More than $3 million has poured into the Empire State over the past five years

Missouri became the 31st state to legalize medical marijuana use Tuesday night

Efforts to legalize recreational marijuana got a major boost in New York on Election Day as Democrats took control of the state Senate.

The win means many progressive policies, including recreational pot, will face limited Republican opposition, especially after Democrat Gov. Andrew Cuomo cruised to a third term and the state Assembly remained deeply blue.

Cannabis industry lobbyists also trumpeted victories Tuesday night across the country, with the green tide of marijuana reform rolling on in several states amid the blue wave sweeping some Democrats into power.

With a last minute infusion of cash and support, voters in Michigan decided to legalize marijuana for adult recreational use by a comfortable 56-44 percent margin, making it the first state in the Midwest to free the weed and 10th overall, USA Today Network reported.

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Campaign cash and lobbying has also sought to influence New York lawmakers considering recreational pot. More than $3 million has poured into the Empire State over the past five years, targeting medical marijuana reform initially before turning to recreational use.

Cuomo, a longtime opponent of marijuana reform, reversed positions on medical cannabis in 2014 and recreational pot this year.

At Cuomo's behest, a state Department of Health study this summer concluded New York should pursue recreational pot, and listening sessions statewide have garnered support for allowing weed here.

Lawmakers in Albany have already proposed legislation that would legalize recreational marijuana for adults, but the issue is expected to get renewed debate in 2019.

Opponents have criticized state lawmakers, however, for yielding to cannabis lobbyists, citing concerns about marijuana companies marketing products to youth and creating public-health risks similar to Big Tobacco.

Marijuana on ballot in four states

Elsewhere across the country, Missouri became the 31st state to legalize medical marijuana use Tuesday night with the passage of Amendment 2, according to multiple local media reports.

Michigan's marijuana initiative creates a system to regulate, tax and sell recreational marijuana to adults in the state, USA Today reported, and cannabis lobbyists used the win to put pressure on lawmakers to change federal laws that prohibit marijuana.

“Western and northeastern states have led the way on legalizing marijuana, but the victory in Michigan powerfully demonstrates the national reach of this movement,” Maria McFarland Sánchez-Moreno, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, said in a statement.

“With such overwhelming public support for marijuana legalization, even including majorities of Republicans and older Americans, there’s only so long that the federal government can continue to hold out.”

Canada, Michigan’s neighbor to the north, legalized marijuana sales for adults in mid-October, which added pressured for Michigan to pass recreational use, too.

In Missouri, three marijuana-related initiatives were on the ballot. Each of them legalized growing, manufacturing, selling and consuming marijuana and marijuana products for medicinal use at the state level, but differed in terms of how they tax marijuana and the freedom each gives potential home growers.

Amendment 2, the measure that passed, will tax marijuana sales at 4 percent, with the proceeds funding veterans health care programs. Of the three, it was the only proposal that allowed for home-growing of marijuana.

"Thanks to the unflagging efforts of patients and advocates, Missourians who could benefit from medical marijuana will soon be able to use it without fear of being treated like criminals," said Matthew Schweich, deputy director of the pro-legalization Marijuana Policy Project.

Other states also were debating legal pot. Late Tuesday, Utah became the 32nd state to legalize medical marijuana use, but North Dakota residents struck down Measure 3, according to the Associated Press. Measure 3 would have been the nation’s most permissive recreational law, allowing residents to grow, consume and possess as much weed as they want, without any government oversight.

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Out West, Utah has a complicated relationship with marijuana use when it comes to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which is hugely influential in the state. More than 60 percent of the state’s 3 million residents are LDS members.

Prop. 2 had strong support in the weeks before the election. But then the LDS church starting running radio ads warning that medical legalization is the first step toward full legalization, which is at odds with a faith that teaches its followers to stay away from alcohol, coffee, tobacco and illegal drugs.