Marijuana Legalization Across U.S. May Hinge on 2016 California Vote
At stake is a market of 39 million California residents, more than double the combined size of Colorado, Washington, Alaska and Oregon.
Marijuana plants grow at the MedMar Healing Center, a medical-marijuana dispensary, in San Jose, California, U.S., on Thursday, Feb. 7, 2013.
Photographer: David Paul Morris/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
A fight next year over whether to allow recreational marijuana use in California may serve as a tipping point as legalization proponents press their campaign in other U.S. states.
“A lot of eyes are on California,” Gavin Newsom, the state’s lieutenant governor and a legalization proponent, said in a phone interview. “It’s very different than almost any other state because of the scale and the magnitude of the change and what it will represent across the country.”