4 states legalized recreational weed this week - here's how they'll spend the extra tax money

Melia RobinsonNov 12, 2016, 23:00 IST

Armando Rodriguez, who smokes marijuana for recreational and medicinal purposes, wears a hat with a marijuana leaf Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2016, in San Francisco. Prop 64 legalizing marijuana for recreational used passed in California. The number of Americans living in states with recreational marijuana more than tripled after at least three states voted to fully legalize the drug.Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP

Over 63 million Americans now live in states where it's legal to consume recreational weed.

Americans said "yes we cannabis" on Election Day, when voters in California, Maine, Massachusetts, and Nevada passed ballot initiatives fully legalizing the use and possession of marijuana without a doctor's recommendation.

The four states, plus three additional states that approved medical marijuana programs, could inject $7 billion to $8 billion a year into the legal marijuana marketplace by 2020, according to preliminary estimates from The Marijuana Business Daily.

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Newly legalized pot will have a major impact on tax revenue, though these markets may take years to get up and running.

Here's how California, Maine, Massachusetts, and Nevada plan to spend their extra tax dollars.

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4 states legalized recreational weed this week - here's how they'll spend the extra tax money