If pot laws were colors, a map of the U.S. map would resemble a tie-dye T-shirt.聽In some states, marijuana is illegal. In others, it鈥檚 legal for medical purposes. And still in others, it is even legal for recreational use.
Five more states could come into that last category this fall, as voters decide whether to legalize it in California, Nevada, Maine, Massachusetts and Arizona.
It was only six years ago that Arizona approved marijuana for medicinal use, and that鈥檚 a stark contrast to Oregon, where medicinal marijuana was legal for almost two decades before smoking pot for fun became OK last year.
Opposition to recreational use in Arizona has been organized and vocal. A group that includes two county attorneys sued, unsuccessfully, to get it off the ballot.
And then there are people like Debbie Moak, 59, who said she put her son in drug rehab when he was 20.聽鈥淎 lot of these kids who are going to be impacted the most by this, they won鈥檛 be voting in this election,鈥� said Moak, who lives outside of Phoenix. 鈥淭his is where we need to be the adult in the room and protect the kids.鈥�
Moak said pot led her son聽to use harder drugs. Cocaine became his drug of choice, and he dropped out of college and eventually became聽homeless.
鈥淚t tears a family apart,鈥� she said. 鈥淎ddiction becomes a disease of the family, and I鈥檝e lived it, in the trenches. And I don鈥檛 want to see this happen for any other family.鈥�
But Moak used to see that pretty much daily, back when she ran a nonprofit called Not My Kid that worked to keep young people off drugs. For nearly two decades, she spoke to parents in pain because they were unable to reach their children who were sinking deeper into drug dependency. Her own son聽is now in his 30s and sober, but his recovery took years.
She opposes the approval of medical and recreational marijuana laws because she fears it will lead to more acceptance of the substance she views as tremendously harmful.
Coming at this from a completely different direction is 60-year-old food editor Martha Holmberg. She lives in Portland, Ore., and says she smoked a lot of marijuana in high school and college then didn鈥檛 touch pot again until she finished bringing up her daughter. Now it鈥檚 part of the聽fabric of her social life.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 do it with people that I don鈥檛 know well,鈥� Holmberg said. 鈥淏ut if I鈥檓 hanging out with girlfriends or we鈥檙e going over to a friend鈥檚 house, I will usually bring weed and say, 鈥楬ey, anybody want to get high?鈥� 鈥�
Oregonian Martha Holmberg says she used to smoke pot in high schol and college, but stopped for years while raising her family. With pot legal in Oregon and growin in acceptance, she鈥檚 returned to smoking occasionally. (Kristian Foden-Vencil/Oregon Public Broadcasting)
Some do and some don鈥檛. 鈥淎nd it all flows very comfortably in that situation,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not like the pot smokers have to go off to the corner.鈥�
Holmberg recently hosted two women writing a pot cookbook. And they needed somewhere legal to try out recipes. The main issue: How much weed to include in each dish?
The equivalent for alcohol would be to figure out whether you make a Moscow Mule with a finger of vodka or a pint. Holmberg says they proved to be a little too cautious.
鈥淎t the end of the evening people weren鈥檛 really very high,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 think some people were disappointed. We actually pulled out a vape pen for anybody who wanted to get high. But it was much better that way. People felt reassured.鈥�
For some people in Arizona, the scene Holmberg described would be shocking. But the introduction of medical marijuana here in 2010 made it a lot more palatable for others. Like Lisa Olson, a mother of five who lives in Mesa, outside of Phoenix. She says pot helps聽ease the symptoms of her multiple sclerosis.
How does her marijuana use fit in with family life? 鈥淏asically, the way we ended up handling it was a lot like alcohol,鈥� she said. 鈥淪o my kids certainly see me drinking a glass of wine with most dinners. They know that鈥檚 not for them. That鈥檚 for the adults.鈥�
She thinks adults should be able to use pot recreationally, too. For someone like Olson, who had always abstained from drugs, that鈥檚 quite a change. Once she saw how much good marijuana did for her, she felt it shouldn鈥檛 only be reserved for people with a few specific ailments.
She鈥檚 passed this newfound openness onto her children. Jake Olson, 20, said the 鈥渏ust say no鈥� message he got from school wasn鈥檛 necessarily true. He appreciated hearing that there are times when use in moderation is OK and shouldn鈥檛 be equated with heavier drugs.
鈥淚t鈥檚 really funny because, you know, most teenagers don鈥檛 figure out things like that through their parents,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut I am that exception. I am that person who learned that maybe not all bad things are bad, from my parents.鈥�
Patrick Caldwell, who also lives in Oregon, says pot acceptance is gradually taking hold in his state. But he will still only bring marijuana to certain events and situations. (Kristian Foden-Vencil/Oregon Public Broadcasting)
Acceptance is growing in Oregon. But it鈥檚 been a gradual process. Patrick Caldwell has a Portland business selling pot containers. He is 29 and brings cannabis-infused sodas to parties. He said he might share one at, say, a bachelor party but not at a family picnic. Caldwell doesn鈥檛 want pot to be taken lightly.
鈥淚 want my nephews to be able to make their own informed decision about cannabis without being influenced by the fact that I so regularly use it,鈥� he said.
He thinks people need to respect what they鈥檙e getting into. But he hopes that in a few years, bringing pot to a family picnic will be no different than bringing a six-pack.
This story is part of a partnership that includes , , and Kaiser Health News.