Some states allow citizens to get petitions signed to put initiatives on the ballot, if enough signatures are collected then it can be put on the general election ballot or a similar method to get this accomplished. This has been the easiest method of getting MMJ laws on the books as this causes the state politicians the least amount of flack since they are not the ones passing these laws. Some states do not allow for this, in which you can only call your local representative and write letters asking him/her to support or create MMJ laws for your state. We all should take a few minutes a month to write a senator or a congressmen to have them support Federal pressure to reclassify marijuana from a schedule 1 drug to a 3-5.
it has to get on the ballot somehow, in our state, the state senate had been talking about it for years, they finally put it on the ballot, and bam it was voted in