A ballot measure to make recreational marijuana legal for adults was approved in California, opening the most populous U.S. state to a burgeoning commercial cannabis market in a major victory for supporters of liberalized drug laws.
Proposition 64 passed easily as statewide returns from the election showed nearly 56 percent of voters favoring the measure and 44 percent opposed, according to results Wednesday morning reported from more than 90 percent of precincts.
California was by far the largest of five states with ballot measures seeking to legalize the use of marijuana for the sheer pleasure of its intoxicating effects, and approval there extends legalization to the entire U.S. Pacific Coast.