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Comment by serg_chernata | Hacker News Reader

So, how many states total is it now legal for recreational use?

Well MA and NV also voted to legalize last night. It failed in AZ. Maine, is leaning in favor but that is still within 1%. Assuming Maine holds the total are these 7

  1. Alaska
  2. Washington 
  3. Oregon
  4. Nevada
  5. Colorado
  6. Massachusetts
  7. Maine

---

Non States

  8. Washington DC
  9. Our neighbors to the north. Canada.

> 8. Washington DC

But in DC, marijuana sales are still illegal, which makes for an interesting situation: you're allowed to be in possession of something you cannot legally buy.

Is growing also illegal?

The Netherlands has a similarly bizarre circumstance where it's perfectly fine (though technically illegal) to buy <5g in a shop but it's still quite illegal for that shop to be supplied with product, as commercial production is illegal and heavily counteracted by law enforcement.

Growing for personal use is legal. I don't know the legality of seed trade.

Seed gifting is allowed but seed sale is illegal. The way it's happening, hydroponic supply stores are giving away seeds as the direct profit motive is there for them.

And this is why people are selling $50 t-shirts with a few grams attached to the tag.

>Our neighbors to the north. Canada.

Recreational use isn't legal here (though enforcement varies, depending on where you are). Medical use has been for a while. The current government is likely to table legislation sometime next year, but no one knows yet what form it will take.

I think it is fair to include them on my list. It is not necessarily legal in some of these states yet either. It will still take some time.

FYI it is not legal in Canada. While barely enforced for small amounts, you can still be arrested.

Though not really in Vancouver

Not until April 20th 2017 (Canada)

Yes I think it is fair to include Canada in this list. MA, for example will still be illegal until Dec 15. But retail locations will not open until at least 2018.

Canada isn't set to legalize until Spring of 2017. In many locations of Canada, people are still being prosecuted actively for trafficking/possession/production of marihuana.

It's still illegal at the federal level.

The next administration may take a different approach to enforcement than the current one (I think it is kind of likely. But let's hope they choose not to prosecute growers and dispensaries and such.)

Trump doesn't strike me as a culture warrior, and since MJ's relevance to law-and-order issues is rather low compared to stop-and-frisk or BLM, his approach might not be all that different from the present one.

AS others have pointed out I'm not as worried about Trump as I am Pence. He seems to definitely fit the culture warrior mold and on the very conservative side.

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