Two-thirds of all US states now have some kind of legal pot, and support for legalization has never been higher. But ballot initiatives can only take legalization so far, researchers say.
Utah residents show support for a ballot initiative that would legalize medical marijuana in the state.
AP Photo/Rick Bowmer
Midterm voters in Utah, Missouri, Michigan and North Dakota will decide whether to join the 31 US states that have some form of legal marijuana. But ballot initiatives can only take pot so far.
In Colorado, fracking often occurs right next to where people live.
Tara O'Conner Shelley
Landowners told researchers that they lacked the knowledge, time and money to advocate for themselves, their financial interests and their property in negotiations over drilling leases.
Signatures were collected to put the death penalty on the 2016 Nebraska ballot.
AP Photo/Nati Harnik
We have a reliable and easy-to-use test to measure blood alcohol concentration. But right now we don’t have a fast, reliable test to gauge whether someone is too doped up to drive.
Department of Elections workers sort through mailed in ballots at City Hall in San Francisco, on Nov. 8, 2016.
AP Photo/Jeff Chiu
Voters in Massachusetts passed a ballot measure that assumed so. But a philosopher of animal welfare suggests the ethical issues involved are trickier than a yes/no vote would suggest.
Cannabis is on display at Shango Premium Cannabis, in Portland, Oregon, Sept. 30, 2015.
Timothy J. Gonzalez/AP
The trend toward marijuana legalization is growing, but the legality, or illegality, of cannabis at the federal level hasn’t changed at all.
Stacks at the Nucor Steel plant – one of the types of manufacturing sites that would be affected by a carbon tax – in front of the Space Needle in Seattle.
AP Photo/Elaine Thompson
Nine states are deciding whether to legalize marijuana. Yet the drug’s prohibition at the federal level has created an unstable financial environment for producers and retailers.
San Quentin State Prison in California, December 2015.
REUTERS/Stephen Lam
Hadar Aviram, University of California College of the Law, San Francisco
In the 1970s, California Governor Jerry Brown helped pioneer mandatory sentencing. Now he’s working to overturn the practice.
Volunteers prepare to canvass in support of Oregon’s Measure 91, a ballot initiative that legalized recreational marijuana in Oregon.
REUTERS/Steve Dipaola
Data shows that voters organizing ballot initiatives on issues like marijuana use and plastic bag bans are doing more than creating DIY laws – they are spreading happiness.
Prop 91 - just one of three ballot initiatives on marijuana decriminalization
Steve Dipaola/Reuters
Editor’s note: There were 146 state-wide ballot measures up for consideration by voters in this week’s midterm elections, covering all manner of controversial issues – from abortion and guns to minimum…