Recreational Marijuana Movement Across U.S.

The legalization of recreational marijuana is gaining acceptance across the United States.

Following its legalization in Colorado and Washington state, Alaska, Oregon and Washington D.C. have also approved referendums for recreational marijuana. The CEO of Muskingum Behavioral Health, Steve Carrel says the whole movement started off as the legalization of medical marijuana but has developed even further.

"I think that the pro-marijuana movement is gonna go straight to legalization, full legalization in their campaigns in the future. Now, Ohio may be a little different, Ohio is a very conservative state. The pro-marijuana folks are on record saying if they can win Ohio, they can win all 50 states."

Carrel says that he is on the fence about marijuana being a gateway drug.

"Once you’ve crossed a barrier, I think it makes a little bit easier. Does that necessarily mean that a marijuana smoker is going to continue to progress to heroin or cocaine or crack, that’s not necessarily true, but it does tend to put you around the people who are in to that."

Carrel also says we can expect to see a push for the legalization of marijuana in Ohio in the near future.