Global Ganja Report

Voters in more than a dozen Massachusetts legislative districts backed dramatic expansions to legal access to cannabis in the Nov. 2 elections, and advocates plan to use the results to press lawmakers. Nine of 18 advisory questions placed on the ballot queried voters on medical marijuana, while another nine backed legalizing cannabis outright, allowing the state to regulate and tax it.

Voters responded to the questions with an overwhelming "yes." Support ranged from 54% in some districts to up to 70% in others, according to an Associated Press review of campaign returns. In the largest district—the 1st Middlesex and Norfolk senate district encompassing Newton, Brookline and parts of Wellesley—63% of voters backed full legalization. The question there asked: "Shall the state senator from this district be instructed to vote in favor of legislation that would allow the state to regulate the taxation, cultivation and sale of marijuana to adults?"

Other municipalities that backed full legalization included: Salem, Swampscott, Marblehead, Hudson, Maynard, Stow, Dover, Needham, Falmouth, Nantucket, Deerfield, Amherst, Lincoln, Sudbury and Wayland. (AP, Nov. 6)

 Photo by Barbara Doduk