--- title: Election: Marijuana Just Became Legal in These States description: Marijuana was on the ballot in nine states on Tuesday. Here are the results of the ballot measures for medical and recreational marijuana canonical: https://time.com/4559278/marijuana-election-results-2016/ author: Katy Steinmetz article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-11-09T04:25:34.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T16:25:51.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: These States Just Legalized Marijuana og:description: Here are the results of the marijuana ballot measures og:url: https://time.com/4559278/marijuana-election-results-2016/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: These States Just Legalized Marijuana twitter:description: Here are the results of the marijuana ballot measures twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # These States Just Legalized Marijuana by [Katy Steinmetz](https://time.com/author/katy-steinmetz/) ## Katy Steinmetz Updated: Dec 13, 2023 4:25 PM UTCPublished: Nov 9, 2016 4:25 AM UTC by [Katy Steinmetz](https://time.com/author/katy-steinmetz/) ## Katy Steinmetz Updated: Dec 13, 2023 4:25 PM UTCPublished: Nov 9, 2016 4:25 AM UTC [Marijuana was on the ballot](http://time.com/4557417/election-2016-marijuana-pot-legal-ballot/) in nine states on Tuesday: Voters in four states—Florida, Montana, North Dakota and Arkansas—were asked to cast their votes on [medical marijuana](http://time.com/money/4421840/medical-marijuana-medicare/) initiatives, while voters in five others—California, Nevada, Arizona, Massachusetts and Maine—were asked whether adults 21 and older should be allowed to consume cannabis recreationally. The results are in, and it was [a watershed year](http://time.com/4557472/marijuana-2016-states-legalized/) for weed. California, Massachusetts, Nevada and Maine have approved recreational marijuana, while Florida, North Dakota, Arkansas and Montana have passed medical marijuana measures. Arizona voters rejected an adult use measure. Going into election night, 25 states had comprehensive medical marijuana laws. That total is now 28\. (Several other states allow for [limited medicinal uses](http://www.ncsl.org/research/health/state-medical-marijuana-laws.aspx) and Montana had a program in place before the vote.) Four states and D.C. had legalized adult use of pot. Colorado and Washington started the trend in 2012 and were followed by Oregon and Alaska two years later. After the election, nearly a quarter of the U.S. population lives in places where adult use is legal. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4559278/marijuana-election-results-2016/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4559278/marijuana-election-results-2016/"},"headline":"These States Just Legalized Marijuana","datePublished":"2016-11-09T04:25:34.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T16:25:51.000Z","description":"Here are the results of the marijuana ballot measures","url":"https://time.com/4559278/marijuana-election-results-2016/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katy Steinmetz","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/katy-steinmetz/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4559278/marijuana-election-results-2016/","name":"These States Just Legalized Marijuana"}}]}] ```