I don't think we need to be shaking in our boots just yet. At least I really hope not. I think the movement has come too far, the markets are too big, and too many people have had the wool pulled from their eyes and have stopped believing in the reefer madness that has plagued our society for far too long. Sure, there are still quite a few people with crazy beliefs. Kevin Sabet comes to mind.

Just how far has the movement come?

There are currently 8 states that allow for the legal adult use of cannabis. Five years ago, there were 0.

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There's soon to be 9

Vermont lawmakers just approved a marijuana legalization bill that would allow for both home use and home cultivation. They approved the bill on the very same day that Jeff sessions announced that he would be effectively ending guidelines which prevented the federal government from enforcing its tyrannical prohibition in legal states.

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Why should we let our government defy the will of its constituents? Support for the legalization of marijuana has never been higher (no pun intended), and it's only rising. Very few political or social issues enjoy such approval ratings. I'm not even certain that 64% of Americans believe that water is wet.

Our president is about half as popular as marijuana legalization.

Our Tweeter-in-chief seems to hover around the mid 30s as far as his approval rating goes. One has to wonder if the recent move by Jeff Sessions could, by association, bring that number down even further. I certainly think it's possible!

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Colorado legalized in 2012 and is often the first state people think of when considering legal weed. Or at least that's my take on it.

How are they doing? Well, in 2017 cannabis sales hit $1billion in just 8 months!

BUT WHAT ABOUT THE CHILDREN?

Surely, the children are all potted up and crazy, right? Nope!

Actually, teen marijuana use in Colorado has decreased since legalization. Maybe it's because dispensaries ask for IDs several times and people selling in the black market do not. I don't quite understand why the state is allowed to tell people they need to be 21 years old to buy cannabis, but that's another issue altogether.

In fact, teen use of cannabis is down in most legalized states. Maybe it's just not that cool anymore. It's something their 45-year-old parents who listen to Fleet Foxes do.

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Washington State also legalized adult use cannabis in 2012. 2017 sales in The Evergreen State were around $1.2billion.

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Oregon legalized the adult use of cannabis in 2014.

How are they doing? Horrible! They only came up with a measily $85,000,000 from the taxation of cannabis to help fund schools, police, and other services.

Again, I'm not entirely sure how useful it is to point to taxation as a benefit to legalization, but for a lot of people it is. Taxing someone and then giving the money to the police isn't exactly how I would do it, but it's still infinitely better than putting people in cages for using or growing a PLANT.

YEAH BUT PEOPLE ARE HIPPIES IN OREGON. I BET THEY LET ANYONE IN TO THE DISPENSARIES, RIGHT?

Well, that's certainly not what happened when the state can a sting operation in an attempt to catch dispensary employees selling to people without obtaining proper identification and all of the shops passed.

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Alaska also legalized recreational cannabis in 2014.

As far as I know, crack is still illegal, so Sarah Palin should probably still watch her back she's got her pipe in hand, preparing to serve one of her World Famous Word Salads.

Alaska is the first state mentioned offering up solutions to one problem plaguing legal states: there's nowhere for out-of-state pot tourists to consume their weed.

If you do it in a rental car, you get a fine. Same goes with a hotel. While cannabis is legal, it's not like one can just walk around smoking it anywhere. In some places in the country, there are bars on every corner, but God forbid we allow people to consume cannabis safely together in the same building.

Sales of cannabis in Alaska continue to grow. The state states it collected more than $720,000 in excise taxes from cultivators in September of 2017. Maybe weed truly will be The Last Frontier for Alaska.

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In 2016, the dam broke. California, Maine, Massachusetts, and Nevada all voted to legalize cannabis.

California alone is expected to bring in over $5billion in sales in 2018.

The rest kind of remains to be seen. This is shaping up to be one hell of a year in many ways!