U.S. | Thu Dec 15, 2016 | 6:08am EST

Massachusetts tiptoes into pot legalization; OK to smoke, not to sell

By Scott Malone | BOSTON

Massachusetts on Thursday became the first state in the densely populated U.S. Northeast to legalize marijuana for recreational use, a step that advocates say could help spread the drug's acceptance across the United States.

The state is one of three where ballot measures legalizing recreational use of the drug passed on Nov. 8, along with California and Nevada, while voters in Arizona rejected it and a Maine ballot is still being recounted.

The Massachusetts measure legalizing use of the drug by adults 21 and older in private places passed by 54 percent to 46 percent, easily overcoming the opposition of prominent state officials in both parties.

Massachusetts is now one of eight U.S. states that have legalized use of the drug for recreational use since voters in Washington and Colorado first approved the idea in 2012. But the measure approved last month does not allow the drug to be sold in the state legally until 2018, a delay that advocates said was intended to give state officials time to determine how to implement the law.

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