The political movement for marijuana legalization is often compared to the political movement for marriage equality. Both causes are seen by their supporters as civil rights issues, and both are very popular among Democrats and progressives, particularly younger voters.
How does that translate to the state level? The Washington Post’s Philip Bump created a great Venn diagram showing which states allow marijuana and same-sex marriage, but his diagram didn’t distinguish between medical and recreational marijuana. This is a very crucial distinction, since marijuana is unusual in that it can be legalized for entirely different purposes — and many more states allow medical marijuana than recreational.
We decided to make a similar diagram that goes a little bit further, showing the intersection of states where same-sex marriage is legal, states where medical marijuana is legal, and states where recreational marijuana is legal or soon to be legal.