Times have changed, drastically. Before the early 2000’s, you either lived in a state where patients with certain conditions could legally grow (depending on their condition of course), or you lived in a state where growing cannabis was illegal, even if you had a condition.
Since then though, there have been more strict medical marijuana laws passed in some states. Some states don’t let patients (or their caregivers) grow their own cannabis, which pushes them to go to the dispensary to buy medicine. Even more puzzling, even in some states won’t allow the cannabis flower at all, which forces medical marijuana users to buy non-smoking products for medication use.
CBD and THC
In a report card released by the ASA, the political landscape has gradually shifted on the issue of marijuana. The ASA posted the report in March. Kansas passed a law in May excluding CBD from the definition of marijuana. This made CBD legal in the state.
Kansas, although passed the CBD law, the law still bans THC and any CBD oil that contains trace amounts of THC. If a law technically allows medical marijuana (or CBD), it is hard to consider it a legally medical marijuana state.
The Green States
With the states that include the legalization of CBD and THC, there are 30 in total so far in the United States of America. But, if we consider only the states that allow any patient (or their caregiver) to grow their own cannabis as medicine, then there are only 14 states. The 9 states with legal marijuana for all adults include; Alaska, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, Hawaii, Michigan, Montana, Oklahoma, and Rhode Island. These states also allow all patients to grow cannabis at home.
If you include states where some patients under certain circumstances, but may grow their own cannabis, there are 17 states. New Mexico requires patients to demonstrate a hardship preventing them from buying marijuana at dispensaries. Arizona bans any patient living within 25 miles of a dispensary from home-grown. North Dakota has a similar ban within 40 miles of a dispensary.
For the states that allow patients to smoke cannabis, there are 9. These states are; Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and Ohio.
And finally, the remaining 4 states that do not allow ANY smoking of marijuana, these include: Minnesota, New York, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.
