The quickly approaching Nov. 8 election will not only decide the fate of the next president of the United States. For Arizona, the ballot will also contain Proposition 205 which calls for legalizing marijuana in the state.

On Aug. 21, 18-year-old Cameron Jones went in for a doctor’s appointment which left him with many questions. He received an answer that changed his life. He had cancer.

“I had osteosarcoma which is bone cancer that started in my leg with a tumor that ended up invading my bone and rotted in the specific area,” Jones said. “In the first week of knowing I had cancer, I found out that parts of my bone had broken off from my femur and traveled through my blood stream and attached onto my lungs. It wasn't lung cancer, it was still bone cancer.”

During the treatment process, Jones experienced extreme pain from the multiple surgeries he received in an attempt to rid his body of osteosarcoma. His cancer was considered “aggressive” and due to this nature, he had to physically remove the cancer after multiple attempts to rid it from his body evasively through chemotherapy.

“Chemo was absolutely evil,” Jones said. “Over the course of six months, I went from 150 pounds to 115 pounds.”

Because of the chemotherapy treatments, his body was deteriorating at an alarming rate and doctors told Jones that if he didn’t start eating more, he would be given a feeding tube. This was when Jones started to smoke medical marijuana in an attempt to gain weight.

“I went and got my medical card and it helped me throughout this entire process. If I didn’t smoke, I feel like it would have been 10 times harder to fight off,” Jones said in regards to fighting cancer.

Prop. 205 will be on the Nov. 8 ballot. This proposition states that, if it passes, Arizona will join Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington as well as a few cities located in Maine and Michigan in legalizing marijuana usage.

President of “Arizona State University Students for Sensible Drug Policy”, Maya Tatum, discussed marijuana usage in an interview. Although there are multiple medical benefits to marijuana, she says the passage of Prop. 205 could potentially benefit other aspects of the state as well.

“Prop. 205 will actually give 40 percent of its earnings to education here in Arizona and this is a huge benefit because millions of dollars were just cut from Arizona educational budgets,” Tatum said.

The tax placed on the purchasing and consumption of marijuana will be given to the Department of Education to further benefit academic endeavors.

Additionally, Arizona is known as a red state, meaning that if it were placed on a political line, it would fall a bit closer to the Republican side. This means that Arizona is a bit more conservative than most other states and once a more conservative state makes an adjustment to their laws regarding marijuana usage, more states might join the bandwagon.

“On a national level, I think that if more states are starting to see other states legalize the recreational use of marijuana, then there will be a wave of other states willing to legalize it as well and in my opinion, I believe and I am hopeful that in the next ten years, marijuana will be legalized nationally,” Tatum said.

Recreational marijuana user Alejandro Mann, 20, got his medical marijuana card when he was 19. He was in a car accident a month prior to getting his card. It left him with minor seizures and found that marijuana curbed the seizures and any extra pain associated with the accident. He continued smoking recreationally following attaining his card.

“I enjoy smoking because it relaxes me and takes the edge off of my day. I smoke because any sort of pain related to the accident goes away. I smoke because I feel better. If this proposition passes and marijuana can eventually be attained in all 50 states, I feel like more companies will be benefitted and crime rates would lessen,” Mann said about smoking marijuana.

According to an article the Arizona Republic, the Prop. 205 race could be decided by a 'couple thousand' votes."

“The chairman of the campaign to legalize marijuana in Arizona is acknowledging the issue could be decided by fewer than 4,000 votes," the article reads.

With margins this close, the passage of this ballot is entirely up in the air.

The Arizona Republic said that with both sides campaigning fiercely, the outcome may not be known for a few days following the Nov. 8 ballot collection.

“The last-minute cash arrived as early voting draws to a close, and as both campaigns say the outcome of Prop. 205 may not be known for days after the Nov. 8 election,” they said.

Recreational and medical marijuana can both promote a variety of benefits to Arizona’s society as well as the nation. If Prop. 205 passes, Arizona will become the second Republican state to legalize marijuana following Alaska.