Are We There Yet?
and Here’s Why . . .
The Legal Status of Cannabis in the U.S.
By Melinda Bie If you’re like most Americans, the constant bombardment of news and statistics is overwhelming — and that doesn’t even include the latest informational updates on state and federal legalization status of cannabis. So, we thought we’d bring you up to date, at least up to the date of this publication.
a minor traffic violation. Those caught possessing or selling an amount within the decriminalized limits are still fined — usually no more than a few hundred dollars. States with stricter decriminalization laws can also attach some jail or prison time to possessing larger amounts of cannabis, sales, or trafficking.
Twelve years ago, no state had fully legalized cannabis Now, more than a quarter of the U.S. population lives in a legal cannabis state. Let’s break it down by the numbers:
Medical legalization lets doctors recommend cannabis for a variety of conditions, from pain to nausea to inflammatory bowel disease to PTSD. Most states have allowed medical cannabis for many other conditions.
Cannabis is fully legalized in 19 states, medically legal and decriminalized in 10 states, medically approved in 9 OK, that’s all well and good, but where do we stand states, CBD only approved federally? As in, when the in 6 states, decriminalized in heck are we going to see Twelve years ago, no state had fully 2 states, and fully illegal in 4 the removal of cannabis legalized cannabis. Now, more than a states. from the Federal Schedule quarter of the U.S. population of Controlled Substances?! lives in a legal cannabis state. What do all the terms mean? Well, good question — got Legalization is generally a magic eight ball? Because taken to represent the removal of all government-enforced that’s going to give you just about the same amount of penalties for possessing and using cannabis. In most, but not accurate answer as you’ll get from any government official. all, cases, legalization also paves the way for the legal sales and home-growing of cannabis. What we can tell you is this — there are currently two cannabis prohibition repeal bills. The first, H.R. 3617 - MORE Decriminalization generally eliminates jail or prison time for Act of 2021, the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment and limited possession of cannabis, but some other penalties Expungement Act, was introduced by Rep. Jerrold Nadler remain in place, treating a minor cannabis offense more like (D-NY) on May 28, 2021. Continued on Page 8
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Fall 2021 Cannabis by the Sea
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