Lots of new and notable recent state marijuana reform developments

Regular readers know they should be regularly checking out my (not-so) regular postings at my other active blog Marijuana Law, Policy and Reform for updates on marijuana reform stories.  This week there have been particularly notable reform developments in notable states from coast to coast that I thought merited highlighting here: 

• California reformers have collected signatures necessary to bring full legalization up for another state initiatitve vote in 2016

• Advice to would-be Keystone cannabis counselors: "It's really here, it's really lucrative and it's really tricky."

• Updating the dyanamic (and even-uncertain) state of medical marijuana reform in Ohio

• Vermont House kills legislative proposal to legalize marijuana in favor of a special study commission

Even for those folks only interested in marijuana reform as a small piece of broader criminal justice reform policies and politics, I think developments in big state California and swing state Ohio are especially important to watch.  In particular, if there were to be big marijuana reform wins at the ballot in November (e.g., if voters were to approve reforms by 60% or more) in both states --- and also, say, in at least one other big swing state like Arizona or Florida ---  I think it would thereafter prove close to impossible for the next President not to make some kind of federal marijuana reform a priority in 2017.