State pot rollouts lag amid court challenges, legislative wrangling after voters backed legalization in 2020

The November elections were a massive success for proponents of legal marijuana, with five states moving via ballot initiatives to legalize pot in either recreational or medical forms – or both in South Dakota's case. 

But the rollouts of the states' new weed legalizations have been rocky, with legal challenges and legislative wrangling at times threatening to delay the programs voters supported.  "What it takes to actually put one of these specific programs in place takes a lot of time. I mean, the first half, when you're looking at getting this on the books, you get the voters, the voters pass it, obviously, and then the real work begins," said Charles Pyfrom, the chief marketing officer at CannGen Insurances Services. "Seeing pushback from certain states and having a bit of a bumpy rollout is not uncommon in the cannabis industry in any way, shape or form," Pyfrom added.