Ballot initiatives heavily used in legalizing medical marijuana
Medical marijuana laws are gaining ground at the state level. Of the 13 states with such laws, four approved them through their legislatures and nine approved them by ballot measures. In the most recent of those, Michigan voters approved a referendum by a 62 percent to 38 percent margin. Voters have approved such programs in every state where they have appeared on the ballot except in South Dakota, where 52 percent of voters rejected an initiative in 2006.