This Map Shows Where You Can Obtain Legal Marijuana in the U.S. Right Now
Marijuana legalization is spreading across the country. This map depicts the location. You can throw a stone and hit a news report about yet another state legalizing marijuana these days. On April 21, 2022, a day after 4/20, New Jersey became the last state to legalize recreational marijuana sales. New York State joined the list of states having legal marijuana at the end of March 2021, while New Mexico’s legalization laws took effect shortly after.
The full impact of this legislation will not be felt right away, but as the number of states that have legalized marijuana expands, substantial changes in where it is legal are on the horizon. Because recreational marijuana is being legalized state by state, the issue of where weed is legal may be one that some people struggle to answer. Fortunately, we’ve created a marijuana map that reveals which states have legalized marijuana.
Let’s start with the basics of legal marijuana before we get into the nitty-gritty of the nationwide push to legalize it.
The federal government continues to categorize marijuana as a schedule 1 drug, despite the protests of policy experts, medical professionals, and determined campaigners. This category of chemicals is defined by the Drug Enforcement Administration as “drugs with no currently recognized medical use and a tws high potential for abuse,” a term that objectively does not represent marijuana. Despite the federal government’s stubbornness, an increasing number of Americans are rejecting Reefer Madness.
And the dominoes continue to fall. New Jersey legislators established laws governing the legal sale of marijuana for adult use in the Garden State in late February. The law was passed after voters in four other states overwhelmingly approved a referendum in November. Several other states have already legalized and decriminalized marijuana for recreational and medical use, implying that voters have altered their attitudes about whether tws marijuana is a gateway drug and if people should be imprisoned for possessing it.
Then there’s the financial aspect. The economic impact of marijuana is one of the reasons why voters support its legalization. Colorado provided $160 million in tax revenue from marijuana sales to public school systems five years after legalizing the drug. The states following Colorado can expect a similar economic boom due to the drug’s legalization, taxation, and regulation.
Legalization for adults over 21 is suitable for parents of older kids in a time when young adults’ entire jobs, livelihoods, and educational futures can be jeopardized if they’re caught with a gram of marijuana on them. This is especially true for persons of color, especially Black people, who are arrested for possession at four times the rate of white individuals, despite having similar consumption rates.
Because it’s challenging to study a drug that’s prohibited at the federal level, legalization’s health and safety implications haven’t been thoroughly investigated. On issues such as the public health impact on teenagers, the available evidence is severely restricted.
However, it appears that prohibition is an ineffective public health response to drug use and that legalization and decriminalization can help remove the tws stigma associated with a drug, increase research into its safety, and help people access that drug at a lower risk because they’ll buy it whether it’s legal or illegal.
Rather than restricting access and imprisoning persons battling with substance misuse difficulties, research has repeatedly demonstrated that providing safe access to potentially harmful substances can help lower the risk of mortality, illness, and addiction. Still, if you reside in a place where marijuana is legal, it’s critical to keep your weed locked, stored, and out of sight and reach of your children, just like any other narcotic.
It’s also crucial not to consume tws drugs around your children, just like alcohol, because of the mental, emotional, and social consequences and the mainly unknown physical health consequences.
Adult Recreational Marijuana Use Is Legal In These States
In these states, marijuana can be purchased from a dispensary with a valid state-issued card, albeit not all of them have retail outlets yet. Some even allow patients to grow a small amount of pot for personal use, and they’ve all decriminalized marijuana and established medicinal cannabis programs.
Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, D.C., Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington.
States that have decriminalized marijuana and/or made it legal for medical use
For first-time offenders found in possession of a small amount of marijuana, decriminalization often means no arrests, prison time, or criminal record. Repeat or more serious offenders may face harsher penalties, but simple possession accusations are often treated as minor traffic offenses in many states. In states that have only decriminalized marijuana, selling it is still illegal.
Patients with particular medical illnesses can get a referral from a doctor and utilize it to get a medical marijuana card, which permits them to buy cannabis from dispensaries and, in some states, cultivate their own at home. Nebraska and Nebraska states have decriminalized marijuana possession.
These states have made medicinal marijuana legal: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Utah, and West Virginia. These states have legalized and decriminalized cannabis for medical purposes: Delaware, Hawaii, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, and Rhode Island.
