As many as 32 states may have legalized cannabis in some capacity within two months.

Marijuana might be illegal at the federal level, but you wouldn’t know it by following its expansion at the state level.

Back in 1995, not a single U.S. state allowed cannabis to be prescribed medically or sold and used recreationally. That changed in 1996, when California became the first state to allow medical marijuana to be prescribed by physicians to compassionate-use patients. Since then, 29 additional states have followed suit, with the traditionally Republican-leaning state of Oklahoma becoming the 30th to pass broad-based medical weed laws a few months ago.

Of these legalized states, nine have passed legislation allowing the use of recreational marijuana. Eight states have OK’d the sale of adult-use pot, with the ninth, Vermont, allowing its use but not the retail sale of recreational weed. Vermont was also the very first state to approve recreational cannabis entirely through the legislative process (i.e., without putting the initiative on a ballot for vote).

– Read the entire article at The Motley Fool.