Recreational Marijuana Was Just Legalized In 4 States And People Are Stoked

California, Massachusetts, Maine and Nevada voted to legalize recreational marijuana on Election Day this Tuesday.

The states were voting on a variety of measures to do with legalization.

Arizona voters did not support the measures in the state-wide votes.

Four states — Florida, Arkansas, North Dakota and Montana — voted on medical marijuana laws.

Florida, Arkansas, North Dakota and Montana voters supported legalizing medical marijuana and loosening laws on medical marijuana.

California, Massachusetts, Maine and Nevada now join Washington D.C., Colorado, Alaska, Oregon and Washington state with legal recreational weed.

This means that eight states and the District of Columbia now have legal marijuana.

And yes, to confirm, recreational marijuana means weed you can smoke for fun.

But don't light up just yet. Even though the votes went through, that doesn't necessarily mean recreational weed is legal in those states right at this second.

Wait until the laws fully go into effect.

Although weed has been legalized in these states, it's not legal for all people to smoke there.

Each state has age limits imposed on the consumption of marijuana. Just like with alcohol, you have to be 21 and over in order to legally smoke weed.

And each of the states with newly-approved legalization come with their own set of specific rules about consumption, possession, growth and selling.

Massachusetts is especially complicated in its laws. The state has set measures on how much a person can possess both on them and in their home and how it must be stored.

But even with these specifications, this is clearly a step forward for the full legalization of marijuana.

It's been a long battle fought for many decades and will continue to be fought as more states consider recreational legalization.

It's helpful the states that have legalized recreational marijuana have not seen too many downsides to doing so.

Colorado found that reported use of marijuana and hospitalizations related to weed have gone up, but that's probably just because people now feel more comfortable coming forward.

Meanwhile, the state has gotten a massive amount of money from taxes on marijuana sales.

That money has gone to education, care for the homeless and general repairs on things like highways and streetlights.

Thanks, weed.

Citations: Yahoo!, Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, Yahoo!, Denver Post