After this coming election a majority of states will allow some form of legal cannabis.

This November, at least nine states will be voting on ballot measures to enter the civilized world of legal recreational or medical marijuana. A few more states are still counting petition signatures to see if they made the ballot. These states are in addition to the 25 states and Washington, DC that already freed the weed.

In Washington, I can buy cannabis at a cute shop in a strip mall. I'm greeted by an inviting smell, soothing music, smiling budtenders, and an unbelievably diverse selection of flowers and edibles. The experience is significantly more enjoyable than meeting some dude in a shady parking lot or back alley for an uncomfortable transaction.

Following the successful examples of Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Alaska, five more states will be voting to legalize recreational cannabis this coming election day.

If you live in Arizona, California, Maine, Massachusetts and Nevada, you get to save people from being thrown in cages for having a marijuana plant. Each of these states has had legal medical marijuana for years, but this is a new level of freedom and a new potential source of tax revenue.

Before this coming election, half of the nation already allows access to medical cannabis. Following this election, pot will be legal in some form in a majority of the United States with as many as five states voting to allow medical pot for the first time.

Medical marijuana legalization will be on the ballot in at least three new states: Arkansas, Florida, and North Dakota. Montana is voting on expanding medical use and recreational. Legalization for medicinal use may also be on the ballot in Oklahoma where petition signatures are still being verified, and in Missouri where signatures are being disputed.

See state-by-state medical cannabis 2016 ballot details below.

Arkansas

Arkansans will have a chance to vote on one of two potential medical marijuana bills. Organizers from Arkansans for Compassionate Care collected enough signatures for the 2016 Arkansas Medical Cannabis Act, a quasi-nonprofit model overseen by the Department of Public Health. The other measure to turn in enough signatures is a for-profit model called the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment.

If this 2015 poll – showing 68 percent of Arkansans would support a ballot measure legalizing medical marijuana, while only 26 percent would oppose it - is any indication, whichever measure is on the ballot appears likely to pass.

Florida

In 2014 a majority of voters, 57 percent, approved Amendment 2 to change the state constitution to allow the legalization of medical marijuana. However, amendments in Florida require a super majority of 60 percent to become law so the measure failed.

The Florida Medical Marijuana Legalization Initiative is back on the November 8, 2016, ballot in Florida. According to Ballotpedia :