What States Passed Marijuanas Is Legal

A majority of Virginia state legislatures have approved Governor Ralph Northam`s proposal to legalize the use, possession and cultivation of marijuana on July 1, years ahead of schedule. New Mexico officially became the 17th state to legalize recreational cannabis in April, less than two weeks after the legislature passed the Cannabis Control Act. The new law allows adults aged 21 and older to possess up to two ounces of flower, allows the domestic cultivation of up to six plants, and automatically deletes the records of those convicted of minor cannabis-related offences. «New Mexico is a state, like most other states, that has seen a disproportionate number of cannabis-related arrests,» Emily Kaltenbach of the Drug Policy Alliance New Mexico told Rolling Stone. «This bill will change lives in New Mexico, not only through the automatic removal and reconviction elements, but also to create some fairness in the industry and protections for users.» Retail sales are expected to begin on April 1, 2022. Residents of the capital voted overwhelmingly in November 2014 to legalize marijuana for adults. In 2020, the state legislature passed a bill that would allow adult sales in the state. However, all locations must choose to allow pharmacies. Sales are expected in 2022.

Cannabis is illegal in Nebraska, but in March, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved a bill to legalize the drug for medical purposes. However, in the Republican-controlled state, it will be difficult to pass anything, so the Democrats aim to let the people decide. Cannabis advocates in the state legislature want to put measures to legalize recreational and medical use on the ballot in 2022. It could happen. Last November, South Dakota, a state as red as Nebraksa, voted for double election measures to legalize. Adults in Green Mountain State can carry up to 1 ounce of marijuana and grow no more than two plants recreationally. The law came into force in July 2018. But its scope was limited. It has not created a legal market for the manufacture and sale of the drug. Marijuana was legalized for recreational use in Washington in 2012.

Recently, a number of populous states have legalized medical and recreational cannabis, including New York and New Jersey. Rhode Island joined the herd in May. West Virginia introduced three bills in the 2021 session — two to legalize pot and one to decriminalize it. None of them managed to make it to the floor, but will be postponed to 2022. However, they are introducing a medical program this year – although it went into effect in 2017, patients were only able to sign up in February. Growers, processors and pharmacies have already received licenses, but there are a few more hurdles before the program is fully rolled out — such as figuring out who will test the product for fungi, pesticides and potency before it hits the market. Vermont was the first state to legalize marijuana through the legislature, rather than a voting initiative, when Republican Gov. Phil Scott signed law into law in January 2018. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed the state`s legalization bill in April after convening a special session of the legislature to work out the details.

The MORE bill was initially passed by the House in December 2020 — the first time either house approved repealing marijuana prohibition at the federal level — but a corresponding bill was not submitted for consideration. Even if it is put to a vote in the upper chamber during this session, the MORE bill would need 10 Republicans and all Democrats to support it. In February 2021, the Phil Murphy government signed the legalization bill after months of back-and-forth over criminal penalties for minors who possess marijuana and the right way to establish a licensing framework for cannabis sales in the state. Despite its reputation as a liberal state, Massachusetts has a history of legislating social trends — you can`t buy alcohol until noon on Sundays and tattooing was illegal until 2000. So it wasn`t surprising that when Massachusetts (along with Maine) became one of the first East Coast states to be legalized in 2016, officials took the time to flesh out the details. Retail sales did not begin until July 1, 2018. Even now, retail store adoption is slow, with only 77 licensed recreational pharmacies open as of October. It didn`t help that when the pandemic hit, medical pharmacies were considered essential, but recreational pharmacies closed from March to May. As a result, the number of patients enrolled in the program increased from 67,000 the previous year to more than 100,000 in 2020. New Mexico, Virginia and Connecticut have also recently legalized cannabis for adults, while Alabama has approved medical marijuana.

Recreational cannabis is now legal in the state and adults are allowed to possess or consume up to 1.5 ounces of marijuana. The sale is not expected until late 2022, according to the state`s official website. Montana voted in 2020 to legalize recreational marijuana for adults 21 and older. Although Utah legalized medical weed, it`s been a tough road to getting there — and it ended with a more conservative bill than supporters had hoped. The Church of Latter-day Saints, a powerful entity in the predominantly Mormon state, was not sold with medical marijuana. The plant was added to their list of banned intoxicants in 1915, and it wasn`t until 2016 that they even developed CBD oil. In 2018, when an election initiative found its way to voting, the church came in with a counteroffer, removing things like home culture from the deal. Voters passed the original version, but lawmakers passed the most restrictive law. Fourteen dispensaries have since opened across the state, but don`t expect adult marijuana to be used anytime soon — the church remains steadfast against the recreational use of virtually any substance, including marijuana. New Jersey has voted to legalize recreational marijuana for adults 21 and older in 2020, opening up a market that could reach nearly $1 billion. In the past six months alone, all cannabis-related ballots presented to voters last November — including those in Mississippi, Montana and South Dakota — have passed, and lawmakers in New York, New Mexico and Virginia have approved bills to legalize recreational cannabis. That`s a lot of action.

So much so that there are now fewer states that have not legalized THC for medicinal or recreational purposes (12) than there are that have given their residents the green light to smoke in peace (18). First published in January 2018, this article has been updated with new information on where cannabis is legal. It was last updated on May 27. Melia Russell contributed to an earlier version of this story. In 2012, Colorado and Washington were the first states to legalize recreational marijuana. Since then, nine states and the District of Columbia have followed the legalization of recreational marijuana. The states where recreational and medical marijuana is legal are: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Illinois, Maine, Massahusetts, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Washington. Floridians can buy cannabis at medical dispensaries with a doctor`s recommendation, but that`s about it.

Medical patients are not allowed to grow at home, and some members of the state legislature are even working to limit the amount of THC allowed in the state`s medical cannabis. Democrats are pushing for a bill to legalize recreational use, though it has not yet made it to the committee`s agenda. In March, a survey by medical cannabis advocacy group Florida for Cares found that 58 percent of Floridians favor the state`s legalization of the drug for adults. Although weed was legalized in Maine in 2016, it took a while to open a retail store — it wasn`t until October 2020 that recreational pharmacies finally opened. However, some in the state, which has had a medical program that has relied primarily on smallholder farmers since 1999, fear change is happening too quickly. Large multi-state cannabis companies are targeting the state (brands like Keef are already on pharmacy shelves), so some fear the family legacy is being lost. The price of the hottest cannabis market in the country is on. Oklahoma? While the Western state doesn`t seem like an obvious choice — it doesn`t have California`s rolling farmland or New York`s pure demand for the product, it has a history of very harsh drug laws — its medical marijuana market, founded after a 2018 election initiative, started strong and doesn`t seem to be slowing down. That`s partly because licenses only cost $2,500 (they can run into thousands in some states) and partly because there`s no limit to those licenses. Getting a referral from a doctor isn`t a problem either — one in 13 adults in Oklahoma has a card. «They literally did what no other state did,» one pharmacy owner told Politico last year.

«Free entrepreneurial system, open market, wild Wild West.» That gap «creates confusion and uncertainty,» they said — and raises many questions in areas ranging from small business growth to public safety. Supporters of legalization hope the bill will pass this session while Democrats still hold the Senate. McConnell would never bring those things to the ground,» Schumer said last year, according to Politico. «We`re going to go ahead and try to do this as quickly as possible.» Medical cannabis is legal in Iowa, but the program is quite limited.