On November 8 of this year, a day that may for all we know live in infamy (although I'll leave it open to interpretation for now), was a big day for at least a few people I know:

In a growing trend, Massachusetts (along with California, Nevada and possibly Maine) decided on election night to legalize weed for consumption by those 21 and older. And you can see why, with the legal weed industry being valued here in the US currently at 6.7 billion dollars, and projected to get up to 21.8 million up here in 2020. While here in Massachusetts vendors won't be set up until January of 2018 (and possibly later), after some push back, citizens of Massachusetts will be able to legally smoke on December 15th, 2016.

Wait, that's this Thursday!

So on the day before finals week begins here at BU, weed will be legal. I'm sure that won't cause any problems for anybody. In all seriousness though, what does this mean for Massachusetts?

Well, honestly not much yet. Starting Thursday, you can own up to an ounce, smoke in designated areas (such as your own home) and grow up to 12 plants per household, hopefully, none of which do this:

On the other hand, if there are no dispensaries, where are you going to get any prior to January 2018 (at the earliest)?

That is a question that hasn't really been answered, although the most realistic answer is that LEGALLY the answer is that you can't. On the other hand, you'd have to figure that basically what this means is that drug dealers effectively still have a year or so before they are effectively rendered obsolete. While technically that still isn't legal, I'm sure there are ways around it given the current state of the laws if you wanted to purchase.

To visualize it, people like this dude are still a thing, and interactions like this will still happen: So for those who can't imagine living in a world where weed is legal, I assure you that it honestly won't make things that different and that things like this won't be regular occurrences:

Frankly, if you look at the other states that have done it, Colorado particularly, it very clearly has triggered an economic boon. Crime has gone down, revenue from it has been massive (primarily due to the taxation, which is still being figured out here in Massachusetts) and legislators in Colorado who were opposed to it initially, are starting to come around to the idea. Combining that with the medicinal benefits of marijuana, overall it has been a good experience for those in states that have legalized it.

On the other hand, some are concerned that legal weed may never become fully legal in Massachusetts following the election and there's decent reasoning to back this up. No matter your opinion of Trump, if you knew somebody who uttered the phrase that he thought "the KKK were OK until I found out they smoked pot," you'd at the very least consider them ridiculous, and upon hearing it would likely do a quick Google search for something like this. It isn't just Jeff Sessions, the man I just quoted, either. John Kelly, who Trump just selected for the head of Department of Homeland Security, has also come out opposed as well, leading to articles such as this to come out.

As a result, people are worrying it might never become a reality. Yet, while there is reason to believe that the Trump administration might want to fight legal marijuana, it isn't likely. It would go against public opinion, which is overwhelmingly shifting towards legal weed rather than against it, and Trump has come out and said it should be a state-by-state issue. Combining that with a long list of other things that Trump wants to get done in these 4 years in office, it is unlikely he picks legal weed as something to focus on in his term.

So, once again, what does this mean for Massachusetts? Likely, on Thursday it doesn't mean very much, especially if you're just the type who wouldn't want to have a drug dealer or deal with anything like that. In my opinion, basically what it means is less arrests, imprisonment, and other general law related issues related to somebody being caught with some weed, which makes sense. Yet, most importantly, it means for those who are excited about it, you'll just have to wait, which is the hardest part.