Political

Image Source: MICHEL COMTE/AFP/Getty Images/ People gather outside during a ribbon cutting ceremony by the owners at the new Fire and Flowerpot store on April 1, 2019, in Ottawa, Ontario. It was the first bricks and mortar retail cannabis stores opened in Ontario

Although recreational pot will become fully legal in Illinois from early January next year, Chicago's Housing Authority has warned residents of public housing that they cannot use marijuana in their premises and any violation will lead to eviction.

Image: In this photo dated, June 16, 2019, a marijuana rally outside New York Governor Cuomo's Manhattan office calls on him, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie to enact the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act (Photo by Erik McGregor/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Although New York did legalize medical marijuana in 2014 with the passage of the Compassionate Care Act, the current reality of this state's painfully small market of

Racing to try to get on the November 2020 ballot, a political committee backing a proposed constitutional amendment to legalize recreational marijuana had submitted more than 57,000 petition signatures to the state Division of Elections as of Wednesday, records show.

The committee Make It Legal Florida registered with the state in August and had spent more than $1 million as of Sept. 30 as it gathers petition signatures.

Five Democratic states are poised to create a pot lovers' paradise, legalizing marijuana from Pennsylvania to Connecticut.

But political infighting — especially among Democrats — could conspire to kill it.

Democratic lawmakers in New York and New Jersey are arguing over criminal justice reforms. In Connecticut, powerful religious leaders torpedoed legalization once before. And all five states must find common ground on taxes to keep up with Massachusetts, where marijuana is already legal.

Marijuana advocates are seizing on the recent outbreak of vaping illnesses to renew calls for clear federal rules on cannabis. 

Federal health officials have pointed to black market THC products as a likely culprit of a mysterious vaping illness that has sickened more than 2,000 people across the country and caused at least 39 deaths.

Advocates argue federal marijuana regulation, including changing rules to allow more and better research, will make people safer.

(AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File)

Racing to try to get on the November 2020 ballot, a political committee backing a proposed constitutional amendment to legalize recreational marijuana had submitted more than 57,000 petition signatures to the state Division of Elections as of Wednesday, records show.

(Getty Images)

The cannabis industry has been growing significantly in recent years as legalization has progressed in many states, with 11 having passed legislation for recreational use and more states likely following suit. In addition, the farm bill was passed nearly a year ago which allowed cannabidiol (CBD) to be permitted federally so long as it was derived from hemp.

After a judge ruled the state's ban on the sale of vaping products is "likely invalid" for medical marijuana patients, it's up to the Cannabis Control Commission to decide if the products will remain off the market.

California has the largest legal marijuana market in the world, with licensed cannabis sales in the state expected to reach $3.1 billion in 2019, which is up from the $2.5 billion sold in 2018.

Keep in mind that 2018 was the first year of legal sales, so the legal marijuana market in California is still in its infancy. By 2024, it is expected to surpass $7 billion. 

When Uruguay became the first nation in the modern era to legalize weed in 2013, most of its citizens were against it. Yet, despite deep public skepticism, none of the challenges or perceived failures of the law have been enough to generate momentum to try and reverse it. Instead, during the first round of national elections last month, cannabis legalization had all but been forgotten as an issue. It had retreated into the political background.