It's pretty ridiculous that the only way to legalize pot through referenda is to embed it in state constitutions. It sounds like Colorado is the only state that's handling this issue the right way.
Many of these states also allow statute initiatives, but they are generally avoided because they don't want lawmakers weakening or repealing their stuff. It's a legitimate concern. Honestly, I don't think lawmakers yet deserve the benefit of the doubt to not do things like that, especially in Arizona. For the record though, in California, even a state statute enacted by initiative can't be modified by the legislature without approval from voters.
My thoughts are this: Lawmakers see a groundswell of legalization initiatives, some in their own states, and they don't act themselves. They could just legalize it themselves before initiatives gets approved and thus keep control over the process while negating the point of an initiative. But alas, they didn't because they are spineless and/or still clinging to Reefer Madness-based beliefs.
