The $8 Billion Question: Which Towns Will Cash In on Marijuana?

After legalization, municipalities in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut are deciding whether to permit cannabis businesses to open.

Recreational adult use of marijuana is now the law of the land in one of the most crowded corners of the country. Since February, the drug has become legal in five neighboring Northeast states, a densely populated region that is expected to quickly become the nation’s second-largest cannabis marketplace, generating as much as $8.7 billion annually within five years. But first, mayors and municipal leaders in three East Coast states that legalized cannabis this year — New York, New Jersey and Connecticut — are wrestling with choices freighted with political and financial implications: Should they permit cannabis companies to operate in their towns?