These 5 States Legalized Marijuana on Election Day

Arizona, Montana, New Jersey, and South Dakota have legalized marijuana for adults 21 and older, as voters in each state approved their respective ballot initiatives at the ballot box. South Dakota also passed a medical marijuana initiative and became the first state in American history to enact both policies on the same day.

“This historic set of victories will place even greater pressure on Congress to address the glaring and untenable conflicts between state and federal laws when it comes to cannabis legalization,” said Steve Hawkins of the Marijuana Policy Project.

• Arizona passed its ballot initiative, Proposition 207.
• New Jersey passed its legislatively referred initiative, Public Question 1.
• Montana passed complementary initiatives, Constitutional Initiative 118 and Initiative 190.
• South Dakota passed its legalization initiative, Amendment A, and its medical marijuana initiative, Measure 26.
• Mississippi passed its medical marijuana initiative, Amendment 65.

“With the passage of these initiatives, one-third of the population now lives in jurisdictions that have legalized cannabis for adult use, and 70% of all states have embraced cannabis for medical use,” said Hawkins. “Regardless of who controls the White House, the House, and the Senate, we should demand landmark federal marijuana reform in 2021.”

Heading into Election Day, 11 states had legalized marijuana for adults 21 and over, and 34 states had legalized medical marijuana. Now, there are 15 legalization states and 36 medical marijuana states in the country.

Michael Robinson Chavez The Washington Post via AP