Business owners, organizations and legislators Wednesday were considering their next moves after Massachusetts voters passed a referendum allowing recreational marijuana for adults.

The Bay State Tuesday joined California, Maine, and Nevada in legalizing recreational marijuana. The effort was defeated in Arizona. In addition, Arkansas, Florida and North Dakota on Tuesday approved medical marijuana initiatives. Marijuana Business Daily estimates the combined victories could lead to up to $8 billion in additional annual retail marijuana sales.

The Massachusetts law will go into effect Dec. 15, and the first pot stores aren't expected to be open until January 2018.

Marijuana stores will be allowed in every municipality unless voters in a city or town approve a local ban.

Without a ban, communities would have to allow up to 20 percent of the number of licensed liquor stores, meaning Worcester could have about 15 pot businesses. A lower limit could be set by cities and towns.

In Worcester, the owner of Green Zone Smoke & Gifts Shop gave zero thought to the potential for a local opt-out. Kong Wu said he'll be ready with an application on behalf of Green Zone as soon as the process materializes.

"I think it’s going to be good for us," Mr. Wu said of potential marijuana sales.

Mr. Wu's store sells products for "tobacco-use only," but its sales of Cheech & Chong coffee mugs and Highway 420 bumper stickers, among other products, suggest it is beyond pot-friendly.

Employee Ian Riel said customers have been asking for years about recreational marijuana.

Mr. Riel said the store has been selling CDB edibles, which contain the non-psychoactive part of a cannabis plant, for more than a year. "Their next question is always, when are you going to sell the THC" products, he said.

Mr. Riel said passage of the question made him pleased for his customers.

A medical marijuana patient, Mr. Riel suggested the recreational component could help patients. He expressed frustration there are still only four medical marijuana dispensaries in the state, none in the Worcester area, after Bay State voters allowed medical marijuana in 2012.

"There are a lot of places you can get your medical marijuana card," he said. "But aside from that, it’s not really helping people who do not have the financial backing to do it. It’s a very expensive process. To even get it, it’s $250, and then after that, you have to travel to one of four locations, which none of them are near here at all."

The ACLU of Massachusetts, a proponent of the law, said the organization is looking toward successful implementation.

Whitney A. Taylor, political director of the ACLU of Massachusetts, called it a historic vote, and noted that "the people of Massachusetts have roundly rejected the pointless and costly war on marijuana, which dates all the way back to the early 1900s and has its roots in xenophobia and racism. More than 100 years after the war on drugs began, Bay Staters have considered the empirical evidence and voted in favor of sensible marijuana policy."

Ms. Taylor added: "The important task in front of us is implementing the will of the voters and creating safe, legal access to marijuana by adults. We must ensure that elected officials who opposed Question 4 do not use their influence to dismantle, hinder or reject what the voters demanded on Election Day. The ACLU of Massachusetts is dedicated to ensuring the will of the voters is implemented and that we do not allow political biases to interfere with the job entrusted to elected officials."

More than 100 state legislators opposed the bill.

State Sen. Michael O. Moore, D-Millbury, said he hopes his colleagues agree that changes have to be addressed in the bill while moving forward with what voters want.

Mr. Moore, whose special Senate committee in March issued a 118-page report on public safety and fiscal concerns about legalizing marijuana, including the potential for young people to gain greater access and become addicts, said he wants to explore increasing the taxation to further regulation of marijuana.

In Massachusetts the tax will be up to 12 percent. The tax rate for recreational marijuana in Colorado is 29 percent.

Mr. Moore said regulating the potency of edibles and marijuana that's smoked, and to whom edibles would be marketed, were also among his bigger concerns.

The bill would allow residents to grow six plants at home, with a maximum of 12 per household.

Mr. Moore said that should be "drastically reduced." He added: "I’d be happy to see it eliminated. But I don’t know if my colleagues would go that far."

Mr. Moore asked how public and private sector employers with zero tolerance for drugs would be equipped to coexist with the law.

Leicester Police Chief James Hurley also had questions.

He said he opposed the ballot question for professional and personal stances, but noted: "The people have spoken. It’s now my job to make sure as a police chief that the law is adhered to. It's legal. Once the guidelines come out from the state or the courts, we will abide by those guidelines."

Stopping someone who appears to be under the influence of marijuana, without a scientific, legal and accepted test to prove drugged driving, remains a concern for law enforcement, he said.

"The majority of officers (in Massachusetts) do not having training in drug recognition. What do you do when you roll up at a crash scene and one person says, 'I smell weed on him, I think he’s under the influence.' How is that other person going to feel when the officer says, 'There's nothing I can do,' and writes up the accident? Now would be a great time for those issues to be addressed."

Guidance on secondhand marijuana smoke in an apartment building would also be helpful, the chief said.

Presently, an officer knocks on a tenant's door and states that a neighbor is bothered by the smoke. If there's probable cause the smoker possesses more than an ounce of marijuana, police can secure the apartment and get a warrant. "Where does all that go now," with the allowance for additional amounts of pot, he said.

Law enforcement and fire service personnel are also concerned about people running high-intensity grow lights in a safe manner, he said. "You’re going to have fires."

Finally, the chief asked, what would happen if someone wants to report child abuse, for secondhand smoke, if a parent smokes marijuana in front of young children?

But the chief suggested that the regulatory system, to be built by a Cannabis Control Commission and a cannabis advisory panel by Jan. 1, 2018, makes for a "unique opportunity" to address concerns.