After years of legislative failures, New Jersey voters on Tuesday authorized the legal use of recreational marijuana in a year when supporters rallied around the disproportionate number of arrests for the drug in minority communities, writes NY Times.

The ballot question passed as expected, by a wide margin, according to preliminary results.

It also instantly raises the ante for neighboring states like New York and Pennsylvania, increasing pressure on lawmakers who support legalization to take action or risk losing the competitive edge to New Jersey in what is expected to be one of the largest marijuana markets in the country.

Arizona also approved a ballot measure to legalize recreational marijuana, and voters in Montana and South Dakota faced similar questions on Tuesday. If the questions pass in all four states, a third of the country will soon live in a state or city where it is legal to smoke pot without a medical justification, eight years after Colorado and Washington became the first states to legalize the drug.