Michigan legalized via ballot initiative during the 2018 election while Illinois legalized by statute in 2019. If legalization is likely to occur in a state, state legislators would rather be in control of the process. Two years later, Illinois became the first state to legalize and regulate recreational cannabis through legislation on June 25, 2019. However, the mechanism of the ballot initiative and its profound influence on marijuana legalization should not be dismissed. Ballot initiatives were the needed catalyst to show the people’s desire for legalization to the state legislatures and allow the cannabis market to become legitimate.
As of today, only 23 states in the country allow cannabis law reform through ballot initiatives for citizens to vote. That means more than half of states only allow changes to be made to cannabis laws through legislation.
In June 2017, Vermont was in the news for being one of the first states to possibly legalize recreational marijuana via action with the legislature. All other states that had legalized recreational use at the time had done so by ballot initiative. Although the bill was vetoed by the governor after it was passed...
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