Vape the Vote: Every State Voting on Legal Weed Today

Americans are rushing into voting booths across the country today to raise their hand for either Donald Trump (the fascist piece of shit who wants to do bad things) or Kamala Harris (the moderate Democrat who wants to do good things). But the presidency isn’t the only thing on the ballot. Voters will be deciding on local races as well as local issues, including everything from abortion rights to property taxes. And voters in four states will decide the fate of weed legalization, with an additional state even voting on legalizing psychedelics.

Recreational cannabis is legal in 24 states, with 38 states allowing for medical use. And it’s impossible to overstate how big of a shift that is from 20 years ago. Colorado and Washington became the first states to legalize weed in 2012 and new states have been added ever since, despite it still being illegal at the federal level.

Kamala Harris has pledged to make cannabis legal on the federal level if she’s elected president. Meanwhile, Trump has promised to put Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in charge of all things health a the FDA and USDA. You may recall that he’s the guy who wants to ban junk food like Doritos. It seems like a clear choice for stoners, America.

Florida

Voters in Florida will consider Amendment 3 today, which would legalize cannabis for recreational use for anyone 21 years of age and older. The measure would let people possess up to three ounces of cannabis or five ounces of cannabis concentrate. The measure needs 60% of the vote to be approved and the latest polling is encouraging, with 60% supporting it, 34% opposed, and 6% undecided.

Gov. Ron DeSantis, a notorious dipshit who supports Trump, opposes Amendment 3 and has made a big push to campaign against legalization. DeSantis was in Orlando and Miami on Monday to make his case, trying to scare anyone around by using a variety of different angles.

“If you’re not 100% convinced that this is a good idea, then you gotta vote no,” DeSantis said, according to local TV news channel WFLA.

DeSantis also tried to insist that this measure would help weed businesses, falsely claiming that the measure would only be good for established companies and ban homegrown cannabis.

“They do not give you the right to grow your own marijuana on your own property,” DeSantis said. “That’s by design because they’re trying to funnel business transactions to them.”

It’s a funny argument coming from a supposedly pro-business “conservative,” of course. But it’s not really about homegrown weed or anything else reasonable or rational, obviously. Guys like DeSantis want recreational weed to stay illegal because the war on drugs is fundamentally a war on poor people and racial minorities. Rich Floridians with good lawyers don’t go to prison when they’re caught with cannabis. That’s for the people DeSantis hates so much.

The latest polling average from 538 for Florida has Trump ahead 6.6 points over Harris.

Massachusetts

Both recreational and medical cannabis are legal in Massachusetts, but the Bay State could become the third state in the country to legalize some psychedelic drugs, following in the path of Oregon and Colorado. Known as Question 4, the ballot measure would legalize things like psilocybin mushrooms from licensed sellers.

Five drugs would become legal dimethyltryptamine (DMT), mescaline, ibogaine, psilocybin, and psilocybin, as long as they were obtained by therapy centers for people 21 years of age and older. Retail shops for these drugs would still be illegal, but the bill would also decriminalize possession of these five drugs for personal use.

Recent polling shows voters in Massachusetts evenly split on Question 4, with 43% opposing and 43% supporting, according to a recent survey conducted by the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and WCVB. The 14% of people who are undecided on the question are likely to decide how it goes.

“This ballot question only enjoys majoritarian support among a small number of demographic and political groups in the state that include young people, Democrats, liberals and Biden voters,”  Tatishe Nteta, the director of the poll, said in a statement published online.

“Older voters, independents, Republicans and parents are particularly opposed to this ballot question, and given the high turnout among these groups in particular, this does not bode well for those who seek to make Massachusetts the third state in the nation to make these substances legal,” Nteta said.

The latest polling average from 538 for Massachusetts has Harris ahead 26.2 points over Trump.

Nebraska

The good people of Nebraska will vote on two measures regarding cannabis today. Ballot Initiative 437 would let healthcare professionals recommend weed to patients while legalizing the possession and use of cannabis for those residents. And Ballot Initiative 438 would create a Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission to regulate the sale and distribution of the drug.

How does it look in the Cornhusker State? According to the latest polling from Midwest Newsroom Emerson College, 59% say they’re going to vote yes, and 33% say they’ll vote no, with 8% unsure, reports Nebraska Public Media.

A legal case has sought to throw out all the votes, arguing that there was some kind of fraud going on during the signature collection that allowed the marijuana measures to get on the ballot. But a judge recently ruled that the votes will be counted. A final ruling on the case isn’t expected for about two weeks, meaning that even if the initiatives pass, they could still be invalidated down the line, but at least people will get to have their say on the matter. For now.

The latest polling average from 538 for Nebraska has Trump ahead 16.4 points over Harris.

North Dakota

As one of the most politically conservative states in the country, it’s no surprise that it hasn’t legalized marijuana for recreational use yet, though it has been legal for medical purposes since 2016. Ballot measures to make recreational use legal failed in 2018 and 2022. But advocates are trying it again this year.

North Dakota’s Initiated Measure 5 is appearing on the ballot and would legalize recreational use and possession for any residents 21 years of age and older. If it does pass, adults would be allowed to have up to one ounce of cannabis, four grams of concentrate, and 1,500 milligrams of edibles.

How will the proposed change fare this time? The latest polling shows 45% support legalization, 40% are opposed, and 15% are undecided, according to the North Dakota Monitor, which notes that the measure is being supported by an organization called New Economic Frontier, which is trying to promote legalization as a good thing for business and tax revenue growth. But legalization has strong opposition from big conservative organizations like the North Dakota Medical and Hospital Associations, North Dakota Peace Officers, Chiefs of Police Association of North Dakota, and the North Dakota Sheriffs and Deputies Associations.

FiveThirtyEight doesn’t have a polling average for North Dakota but the latest poll the outlet tracks has Trump ahead 27 points over Harris.

South Dakota

South Dakota’s Initiated Measure 29 will be decided by voters on Tuesday, which would legalize the consumption of recreational weed for anyone 21 years of age and older, though it doesn’t legalize the sale of weed and has a special carve-out allowing employers to ban consumption by their employees. Medical cannabis is already legal in the state.

But the latest polling does not look good for people who’d like to see recreational marijuana legalized in South Dakota. A disappointing 50% of voters in the state oppose the measure, with 45% supporting it, according to a poll conducted by Emerson College Polling/KELO-TV/The Hill.

FiveThirtyEight doesn’t have a polling average for South Dakota but the latest poll the outlet tracks has Trump ahead 28 points over Harris.

Nobody knows for sure what will happen on Tuesday, both for the presidency and these weed legalization measures. But if all four states considering weed today vote to legalize it in some form, there will be just 8 of the 50 states where marijuana is completely illegal. And any one of the four states legalizing would bring the number of states with recreational use up to a full half of the entire country, with 25.

If you haven’t voted yet today, wherever you are in the U.S., make sure you do that. This is an important one, to say the least.