After Massachusetts voters approved a ballot question legalizing the sale and use of recreational marijuana, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said he may have to re-examine his own views on the matter.

"I have never been an advocate of that," Malloy said Wednesday. "On the other hand, of course, when multiple states move in a direction you have to re-examine your own personal thoughts on the issue. I'm just like anybody else."

Massachusetts was one of five states where voters were considering whether to legalize, regulate and tax the drug. Measures also passed in California and Nevada. In Maine, "yes" on Question 1 was leading "no" by a few thousand votes Wednesday afternoon.

Connecticut doesn't have ballot questions, so a bill to change the regulations around marijuana would have to pass the General Assembly and be signed by Malloy. Bills have been raised in previous years but never seriously considered. Proponents say the first state in New England to have a retail marijuana business up and running will reap the most tax receipts.

Malloy supported decriminalization of marijuana and enacting a medical marijuana program in Connecticut, but he has said that legalizing the drug for recreational use goes too far. But now marijuana businesses are poised to open up just over the border in January 2018.

"Would I begin any day by saying I think we need to [legalize marijuana]? No," Malloy said. "But I do have to re-examine that position in light of our very large shared border."

The governor noted how consumers in northern Connecticut often head over the border to buy alcohol in Massachusetts, where taxes are lower.