The marijuana industry is expected to earn more than $24 billion by the year 2020, and recreational marijuana is spreading throughout the country state by state. California is welcoming legal recreational marijuana on Jan. 1, 2018, joining Alaska, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington. The wide-scale legalization of recreational marijuana has led many to wonder, which state will be next?
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Delaware Has an Adult Use Cannabis Task Force
Delaware has established a task force to study whether the state should legalize marijuana. The Adult Use Cannabis Task Force consists of multiple state agencies and is headed by State Representative Helene Keeley and State Senator Margaret Rose-Henry, with the purpose of studying the probable results of legalization.
The president of the Cannabis Advocacy Network, Zoe Patchell, believes that Delaware is making progress towards legalization, telling News Talk 105.9 FM radio that the Department of Health has firm recommendations on cultivation and labeling. Estimates for the state’s annual tax revenue exceed $25 billion.
Illinois Voters May Approve Recreational Weed
The Chicago Tribune reported that more than 74 percent of Illinois residents approve of legalizing recreational marijuana, and the state also needs money. Illinois does not have the money to pay the state’s pensions and needs to raise $130 billion. Commissioners in Chicago approved a recreational marijuana referendum to go on the March 2018 ballot earlier this week, so chances are that the ballot measure will puff-puff pass.
Michigan
The Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol has submitted the needed signatures to get on the November 2018 ballot. The coalition turned in 365,000 signatures last month, surpassing the 252,523 signatures needed. A recent poll showed that 71 percent of students would vote to legalize recreational marijuana, so if young folks come out and vote, Michigan could have legalized weed soon.
New York (Only a Matter of Time)
A poll by the Emerson College for the Marijuana Policy Project concluded that more than 60 percent of New Yorkers thought that recreational marijuana should be legal. The Marijuana Policy Project Foundation estimated that recreational marijuana legalization would bring the state tax revenue of $555 million annually by the year 2025, and New York needs money. The state will have a $4.4 billion deficit for the next fiscal year, according to the governor’s budget office, and State Sen. Liz Krueger (D-Manhattan) supports recreational marijuana legislation.
Governor Cuomo has said that he does not support recreational marijuana and the Republican Senate has blocked the legalization legislation. However, Senator Krueger says that recreational marijuana legalization is only a matter of time.
New Jersey and Mary Jane
Christie out, Murphy in. The state of New Jersey has a new governor, and he supports legalizing marijuana. Governor-elect Phil Murphy has vowed to have marijuana legalized within 100 days of his inauguration. U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-New Jersey) proposed a bill to legalize marijuana on the federal level called the Marijuana Justice Act. The bill would bar states with high minority incarceration rates for marijuana convictions from receiving federal funds, along with legalizing Mary Jane nationwide.
You can follow these states’ progress and find more marijuana news on Leafbuyer’s News Page.
