Photos: Legal marijuana in Seattle

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Jeff Brown tries to sell a marijuana-themed flag outside CenturyLink Field before the start of a Seahawks game on Sunday, September 21, 2014. In 2012, voters approved an initiative to legalize recreational marijuana in Washington. Voters in Alaska will vote on a similar initiative next month.

On Nov. 4, Alaska voters will decide the fate of Ballot Measure 2, which seeks to legalize, tax and regulate recreational marijuana in the state. Alaskans have hotly debated the initiative's potential effects, from costs and revenue to societal impacts.

In Washington state, a new recreational marijuana industry is being built from the ground up. Passed in November 2012, some of the regulations were outlined in the initiative, the rest hashed out in the year following the initiative's passage. The first retail stores opened in July. Like Colorado, which also legalized recreational marijuana in 2012, Washington continues to tweak its rules as the rollout continues.

Now, Washington is beginning to see the effects of the emerging market. Alaska can look to Washington to see what has -- and hasn't -- happened so far when considering potential impacts in the Last Frontier.

Read more: Where pot is legal, Pt. 2: Five things that haven't happened in Washington