In November 2012, 63.3 percent of voters approved Massachusetts’ medical marijuana initiative, An Initiative Petition for a Law for Humanitarian Medical Use of Marijuana, making it the 18th state in the nation, along with the District of Columbia, to legalize medical marijuana.
Four years later, by a vote of 53.6 percent to 46.3 percent, voters did the same for recreational marijuana with the Massachusetts Marijuana Legalization Initiative (also known as Question 4). Both were citizen-initiated efforts.