In November, Oregonians approved Measure 91, which will legalize recreational marijuana use in the state for people aged 21 and older. Here, I’ve compared support for the initiative to the current distribution of medical marijuana users.

The map of registered patients only includes Oregon residents. Gilliam, Sherman, and Wheeler Counties are combined when reporting patient registrants to protect confidentiality, so a single percentage is used for all three.

While there is a general geographic trend, with the more populated western counties having higher percentages on both maps, a linear regression of the values shows a weak correlation (R^2 = 0.067). The three highest and lowest percentages are labeled on each map. Morrow County is the only one to be an extremum on both maps (bottom three).

Data sources:

http://public.health.oregon.gov/diseasesconditions/chronicdisease/medicalmarijuanaprogram/pages/data.aspx

http://gov.oregonlive.com/election/2014/general/maps/