To the red-and-blue map of American politics, it may be time to add green. The movement to legalize marijuana, the country’s most popular illicit drug, will take a giant leap on Election Day if California and four other states vote to allow recreational cannabis, as polls suggest they may.

The map of where pot is legal could include the entire West Coast and a block of states reaching from the Pacific to Colorado, raising a stronger challenge to the federal government’s ban on the drug.

In addition to California, Massachusetts and Maine both have legalization initiatives on the ballot next month that seem likely to pass. Arizona and Nevada are also voting on recreational marijuana, with polls showing Nevada voters evenly split.

Good Chemistry Nurseries, a leading producer of Cannabis products and related services, will offer Cannabis industry insights at the following events over the next four months. Drawing from the company’s experience in cultivation, consumer education, and innovative best practices, Good Chemistry Nurseries executives and team members will participate as moderators, exhibitors, and speakers at a series of public educational and outreach events listed below.

Elections aside, the marijuana industry has had an incredible run over the past two decades.

Prior to the 1996 approval of a compassionate use medical cannabis law in California, marijuana was illegal in all aspects (medical and recreational), and public support for nationwide legalization stood at just 25% per Gallup. Fast-forward to today and 25 states have legalized medical cannabis, with four states, as well as Washington D.C., legalizing the purchase of recreational marijuana for adults ages 21 and up. It's worth noting that the two most recent states to legalize medical marijuana -- Pennsylvania and Ohio -- did so entirely through the legislative process. Furthermore, public support for nationwide legalization tied an all-time high in Gallup's 2015 poll at 58%.

The War on Drugs doesn’t have a lot of defenders left, and with good reason.

It’s been a decadeslong disaster, leading to overcrowded jails and prisons, a shameful legacy of incarcerating blacks at a far higher rate than people of other ethnicities and little if any reduction in the demand for drugs.

Nevadans have a chance to make meaningful progress by voting to legalize the recreational use of marijuana.

We encourage them to vote yes.

To explain why, we’ll offer answers to key concerns.

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Opponents: Given that marijuana is already legal for medicinal purposes in Nevada, why take this next step?

The Nevada Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, and the Massachusetts’ campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, both unveiled new television ads yesterday in support of their initiatives to legalize recreational cannabis.

“Our opponents are attempting to scare Nevadans into opposing Question 2″, says Joe Brezny, a spokesperson the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol.

“What our opponents would like the public to forget is that our current system poses the greatest danger to our communities. We currently have criminals profiting from selling marijuana on streets to people of all ages.”

People in nine states, including California, Florida and Massachusetts, will vote Nov. 8 on ballot proposals permitting recreational or medical use of marijuana. These initiatives could give a big push to legalization, prompting the next president and Congress to overhaul the country’s failed drug laws.

This is a big moment for what was a fringe movement a few years ago. A Gallup poll released on Wednesday showed 60 percent of Americans support legalizing marijuana, up from 31 percent in 2000 and 12 percent in 1969.

Business owners are replacing idealists in the pot-legalization movement as the nascent marijuana industry creates a broad base of new donors, many of them entrepreneurs willing to spend to change drug policy.

Unlike in the past, these supporters are not limited to a few wealthy people seeking change for personal reasons. They constitute a bigger coalition of business interests. And their support provides a significant financial advantage for pro-legalization campaigns.

“It’s mainly a social-justice movement. But undoubtedly there are business interests at work, which is new in this movement,” said Kayvan Khalatbari, a one-time pot-shop owner and now head of a Denver marijuana consulting firm.

Voters could legalize recreational marijuana in five states this November and medical marijuana in three more. This record number of state ballot measures promise to be a great boon for the cannabusiness industry. With national prohibitions against interstate cannabis commerce, as well as current federal banking and drug laws, large companies have been kept out of the industry, so the market is still primarily comprised of small businesses.

California, Arizona, Maine, Massachusetts and Nevada will consider legalizing  the recreational use of cannabis while Florida, Arkansas and North Dakota will decide on marijuana for medical purposes.

What’s going on state by state?

California, Prop 64 

All across the United States, tens of millions are getting ready to decide both the immediate and long-term future of cannabis legislation. Quite the contrary to the picture in the United Kingdom, lawmakers are putting it all in the hands of the people…as opposed to just making their minds up for them. Well, they are in nine US states, anyway, where both medical and recreational cannabis laws could be overhauled massively by the end of the year.

No matter who wins on Election Day, cannabis will have a big day at the ballot box.

Five states — Arizona, California, Maine, Massachusetts and Nevada — have initiatives to legalize marijuana for adult recreational use. Four states — Arkansas, Florida, Montana and North Dakota — have proposed legalizing marijuana for medical purposes. All of the recreational use initiatives are currently ahead in the polls.