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Marijuana Legalization : How Many States Will Consider marijuana this year (2017)?

Jeff Harris
Feb 16, 2017
2 min read

Voters in 8 states passed cannabis legalization laws following the 2016 presidential election, giving cannabis legalization the required momentum for more states across the country to carry out discussions on the legalization of weed this years .

states that may legalize marijuana in the future year:

New Mexico

Rep. Bill McCamely has suggested the state could use marijuana legalization as a way to resolve New Mexico’s $600 million deficit and, according to a poll conducted by the Albuquerque Journal in October, 61 percent of New Mexico’s voters would support the recreational use of marijuana, increasing the possibility of a new bill being presented to the state during the 2017 legislative season.

Kentucky

“The time of laughing and snickering about marijuana and marijuana cigarettes is over. We've got serious businessmen who have approached me on this now and say they are taking it to the governor,” Sen. Perry Clark told The Courier-Journal last year.

Clark filed for a bill — called the Cannabis Freedom Act — to legalize medical marijuana use in the state, which will be presented to the people of the state in 2017.

Virginia

Gov. Terry McAuliffe has expressed his inclination towards legalizing marijuana and told local radio station WTOP in October: “I do support it for medicinal purposes. I will sign any bill you can get to me, because I'm a big believer in that.”

Texas

Texas is making Legalization a priority on its 2017 lawmaking agenda. State officials will consider reducing charges for possession by adopting a model that fines people $250 without giving them a criminal record.

New Jersey

Despite Gov. Chris Christie being opposed to marijuana legalization, lawmakers are ready to explore the possibility. After visiting Colorado in October to evaluate the impact that legalization has had on the state, Sen. Nicholas Scutari, who was a part of the delegation, expects a vote in 2017.

“We want to learn from their experiences and improve on it as much as we can. This is not a joke… this is big money and it's great savings to the state,” Scutari said, according to local news source NJ.com.

Delaware

The recreational legalization of marijuana is expected to be discussed by the state’s officials in early 2017. Sen. Margaret Rose Henry, during a Medical Marijuana Act Oversight Committee meeting in October, said: “It’s time to certainly look at it.”

The senator is responsible for drafting the state’s medical marijuana bill and Delaware’s Democratic Governor-elect John Carney also supports the decriminalization of marijuana in his state.

If these states succeed to legalize in the coming years, they will be able to enjoy the following privileges