Ohio voters shut down a referendum to legalize marijuana last week, but experts doubt that will slow the marijuana legalization debate throughout the U.S.
The Ohio law was fatally flawed. Even some marijuana activists fought it on the grounds that it would give marijuana profits to just a few investors. Many voters rejected a weed monopoly, not weed legalization. That momentum is still building.
Multiple polls show that more than 50% of Americans support legal marijuana. Twenty-three states plus Washington, D.C. have legalized either medical or recreational weed. If that number inches past 30 states by 2017, experts say Congress can't ignore it.
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders introduced a bill last week that would end federal prohibition of marijuana. No coalition has formed in support of the bill, but that doesn't mean one won't develop.
Take the criminal justice coalition, for example. Criminal justice reform was mostly "leftist rhetoric" until late in 2015, Sam Kamin, a marijuana law professor at the University of Denver, told Mashable. But Republican and Democratic senators introduced a huge reform package on Oct. 1, strengthening that movement's national credibility.
Marijuana legalization activists may have to figure out their priorities before a national movement gains enough momentum to force a federal law forward.
While 23 states have sanctioned medical marijuana in some way, only four of those have also legalized recreational weed. Recreational marijuana supporters worry that a successful push for medical marijuana will leave politicians without incentive to also legalize recreational weed.
"Folks who are really dramatic supporters of reform want recreational reform, not just medical reform," said Doug Berman, a criminal law professor at Ohio State University. "That's where the interesting rubber hits the road."
That debate will probably play out differently in states across the country. In the meantime, the experts we spoke with said they wouldn't be stunned if the Sanders bill--or one like it--makes its way to federal law.
Sanders' bill would remove marijuana from the list of "Schedule 1" drugs, where it sits alongside heroin and LSD. Doing so would allow scientists to research weed, providing more information for the marijuana legalization debate.
"There is a majority of support in the country, probably, for legalization of some sort," said Frank Snyder, a law professor at Texas A&M University who runs a marijuana policy blog. "It's the details that people are worried about."