Timeline of cannabis laws in the United States

Cannabis laws in the United States¹
----

  Jurisdiction with legalized cannabis.

  Jurisdiction with both medical and decriminalization laws.²

  Jurisdiction with legal psychoactive medical cannabis.

  Jurisdiction with legal non-psychoactive medical cannabis.

  Jurisdiction with decriminalized cannabis possession laws.

  Jurisdiction with cannabis prohibition.

---- ¹ Includes laws which have not yet gone into effect.
² Mississippi has only legal non-psychoactive medical cannabis. ---- * Cannabis remains a Schedule I substance under federal law as of 2015.
* Some cities and Indian Reservations have legalization policies separate from their surrounding states.
* Cannabis is illegal in all Federal enclaves.

Timeline of medical marijuana legalization in the USA
(State-level legalization) 1996: California 1998: Alaska, Oregon, Washington 1999: Maine 2000: Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada 2004: Montana 2006: Rhode Island 2007: New Mexico, Vermont 2008: Michigan 2010: Arizona, New Jersey 2011: Delaware, Washington, D.C. 2012: Connecticut, Massachusetts 2013: New Hampshire, Illinois 2014: Maryland, Minnesota, New York Total states: 23 and D.C.

The legal history of cannabis in the United States began with federal prohibition in the early 20th century. Starting with Oregon in 1973, individual states began to liberalize cannabis laws through decriminalization and legalization of recreational cannabis, as well as the legalization of medical marijuana for non-recreational use. This article makes no distinction between degree or required consumption manner of legalized medical marijuana. More detailed information regarding medical cannabis in the United States or decriminalization of non-medical cannabis in the United States can be found elsewhere. This article is meant as a timeline and nothing more.

Legizlation

Federal

• 1937: The Marijuana Tax Act is passed, effectively prohibiting all use of cannabis on a federal level.
• 1970: The Controlled Substances Act is passed, prohibiting cannabis federally along with several other drugs and replacing the 1937 act.
• 2014: The United States House of Representatives passed a bill prohibiting the DEA from using funds to arrest medical cannabis patients in states with medical cannabis laws.^[1]

States

• 1917: Colorado In March 1917, Colorado legislators made the use and cultivation of cannabis a misdemeanor;
• 1973: Oregon decriminalized cannabis.^[2]
• 1975: Alaska decriminalized cannabis.^[3]
• 1976: Maine decriminalized cannabis.^[4]
• 1978: New Mexico legalized medical cannabis.^[5]
• 1973-1978: California, Colorado, Mississippi, New York, Nebraska, North Carolina, and Ohio decriminalized cannabis.^[6] Certain cities and counties, particularly in California, adopted laws to further decriminalize cannabis.
• 1996: California legalized medical cannabis. (California proposition 215)
• 1996: First marijuana dispensary, Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana appears in Fairfax, California, USA.^[7]
• 1998: Oregon legalized medical cannabis. (Oregon Medical Marijuana Act)
• 1999: Maine legalized medical cannabis.^[8][9]
• 2000: Nevada legalized medical cannabis.^[10]
• Colorado legalized medical cannabis.^[10]
• 2004: Montana legalized medical cannabis.^[10]
• 2007: New Mexico and Vermont legalized medical cannabis.^[10][10][10]
• 2008: Michigan legalized medical cannabis. Massachusetts decriminalized cannabis.^[11]<
• 2010: New Jersey and Arizona legalized medical cannabis.^[12][13](Arizona's proposition 203)^[14]
• 2012: Massachusetts legalized medical cannabis. (Massachusetts Medical Marijuana Initiative)
• 2012: Washington and Colorado legalized recreational marijuana for adults 21 years of age or older.^[15]
• 2014: Maryland decriminalized cannabis. Minnesota and New York legalized medical cannabis.^[16][17][18]
• 2014: Alaska and Oregon legalized recreational cannabis.^[19] Alaska's law took effect on February 25, 2015.^[20] Oregon's initiative began on July 1, 2015.^[21]
• 2015: Georgia legalized medical cannabis.^[22]
• 2015: Texas legalized medical cannabis.^[23]
• 2015: Delaware decriminalized cannabis.^[24]
• 2016: Pennsylvania legalized medical cannabis.^[25]

Municipal

• 1998: Washington D.C. attempted to legalize medical cannabis with the passage of Initiative 59, but was prevented by the Barr Amendment from putting the new law into action until 2009, with the first legal medical sales occurring in 2013.^[26]
• 2004: Oakland, California passes Measure Z, making private adult cannabis offenses the lowest possible priority for law enforcement, establishing a system to regulate, tax, and sell cannabis pending state legalization, and urging legalization on the state and national levels.^[27]
• 2005: Denver, Colorado legalized cannabis.^[28]
• 2009: Breckenridge, Colorado legalized cannabis.^[29]
• 2013: Portland, Maine legalized cannabis.^[30]
• 2014: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania decriminalized cannabis.^[31]
• 2014: Washington D.C.'s City Council decriminalized cannabis in July, and the electorate voted in November to legalize recreational marijuana with 69% in favor.^[32] A Congressional rider prevented DC from permitting retail marijuana stores.^[33] On February 26, 2015, marijuana became legal in D.C. for adults aged 21 and over to possess, gift and grow but not to sell.^[34]
• 2014: New York City, New York decriminalized cannabis.^[35]

Territory

• 2014: Guam legalized medical cannabis.^[36]

Indian Reservations

• 2014: The US Justice Department allowed recognized Indian Reservations to regulate cannabis laws within their reservation. The laws in the reservations are allowed to be different from state and federal laws. As with State and Territories, the Federal government will not intervene as long as the reservations regulate strict control over cannabis. Some domestic nations such as the Yakama Nation and the Oglala Sioux Tribal Council rejected the approval to allow cannabis on their reservation.^[37]
• 2015: The Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe (South Dakota) voted to legalize recreational cannabis on its territory.^[38]

Opinion

Presidential

• 2015: President Barack Obama declared his support of cannabis decriminalization but opposition to legalization.^[39][40]

Public

• 2011: Gallup reported a record 50% of Americans surveyed supported legalization.^[41]
• 2013: The Pew Research Center presented U.S. survey results that showed prohibition support as a minority position for the first time in four decades: 52% supported legalization.^[42] Gallup reported a record 58% of Americans support nationwide legalization.^[43]
• 2014: Research conducted by the Pew Research Center in February showed an increase in the percentage of legalization supporters, from 52% to 54%,^[44] while the New York Times published its Editorial Boards series "High Time: An Editorial Series on Marijuana Legalization" in July.^[45]
• 2015: Gallup reported a record 58% of Americans support marijuana legalization.^[46]

See also

• Legal history of cannabis in the United States
• Places that have decriminalized non-medical cannabis in the United States

References

1. Reilly, Ryan (May 30, 2014). "House Blocks DEA From Targeting Medical Marijuana". Huffington Post. Retrieved July 4, 2014.
2. Suellentrop, Chris (February 15, 2001). "Which States Have Decriminalized MJ Possession?". Cannabis News. Retrieved October 12, 2010.
3. "State by State Laws: Alaska". National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. 2006. Retrieved December 24, 2006.
4. Scott, Emilee (May 5, 2010). "Marijuana Decriminalization". ABC News. Retrieved April 29, 2013.
5. "2006 New Mexico Statutes - Section 26-2A-4 — Lynn Pierson therapeutic research program established; participation.". US Law Justia. Retrieved October 25, 2015.
6. Doug Husak; Peter de Marneffe (August 29, 2005). The Legalization of Drugs. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-139-44585-6.
7. Owner Of First U.S. Marijuana Pharmacy Now Broke And Fighting IRS http://www.forbes.com/sites/janetnovack/2012/07/13/owner-of-nations-first-marijuana-pharmacy-now-broke-and-fighting-irs Forbes.com July 13, 2012
8. "1906 - Present Historical Ballot Initiatives and Referenda" (PDF). State of Montana. Retrieved May 18, 2015.
9. "Maine Medical Marijuana". Retrieved April 29, 2012.
10. "Active State Medical Marijuana Programs - NORML". norml.com. Retrieved June 4, 2008.
11. Cook, T; Powell D; Bradley T (November 5, 2008). "California Passes Gay Marriage Ban, Legal Challenges to Come". ABC News. Retrieved November 12, 2008.
12. "New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Ac". njleg.state.nj.us. Retrieved January 11, 2010.
13. Kocieniewski, David (January 12, 2010). "New Jersey Lawmakers Pass Medical Marijuana Bill". nytimes.com. Retrieved January 11, 2010.
14. Bennett, Ken (August 19, 2010). "Ballot Measures". Retrieved August 24, 2010.
15. "Marijuana Laws Washington".
16. Warren, Pat (April 14, 2014). "Jail Time Replaced With Fines: Gov. O’Malley Signs Marijuana Decriminalization Bill". CBC Baltimore. Retrieved April 20, 2014.
17. "Gov. Dayton Signs Medical Marijuana Bill Into Law". CBS Minnesota. May 29, 2014. Retrieved July 4, 2014.
18. Campbell, Jon (July 7, 2014). "Cuomo signs New York's medical marijuana bill". USA Today. Retrieved July 9, 2014.
19. "2014 Ballot Measures". Retrieved November 5, 2014.
20. "Alaska Becomes Third State to Legalize Marijuana". February 24, 2015. Retrieved February 27, 2015.
21. "Recreational Marijuana in General". Oregon.gov. Retrieved February 27, 2015.
22. "Georgia Gov. Deal signs medical marijuana bill into law". MSNBC. Retrieved April 17, 2015.
23. "Abbott signs bill to legalize medical cannabis for epilepsy". KHOU. Retrieved June 2, 2015.
24. "Delaware is 18th state to allow possession of recreational marijuana". The Guardian. Retrieved June 19, 2015.
25. "governor wolf signs medical marijuana legalization bill into law". wjactv. Retrieved April 18, 2015.
26. http://blog.norml.org/2013/07/30/first-medical-marijuana-sale-reported-in-washington-dc/
27. "Measure Z Home Page". Oaksterdam Cannabis Museum. Retrieved October 13, 2015.
28. "Denver votes to legalize marijuana possession". USA Today. November 3, 2005. Retrieved October 16, 2014.
29. "Breckenridge Pot Legalization Creates Big Buzz". ABC 7 Denver. November 5, 2009. Retrieved October 1, 2014.
30. "Portland, Maine, Legalizes Recreational Marijuana". Retrieved October 1, 2014.
31. "Philadelphia Is Decriminalizing Marijuana Possession". Retrieved October 1, 2014.
32. "2014 Ballot Measures". Retrieved November 5, 2014.
33. "Congressional spending deal blocks pot legalization in D.C.". Washington Post. Retrieved February 18, 2015.
34. "Pot now legal in D.C. despite threats from Congress". U.S.A Today. February 26, 2015. Retrieved February 27, 2015.
35. "Pot in NYC may soon net just a ticket, not an arrest". CNN. Retrieved November 12, 2014.
36. "Guam Legalizes Medical Marijuana". The Huffington Post. Retrieved January 11, 2015.
37. the D.O.J. allows indian reservations to grow and sell marijuana, nwherald.com, December 12, 2014, retrieved December 24, 2014
38. "Tribe Bets on Legal Pot". US News. June 16, 2015. Retrieved July 12, 2015.
39. Lopez, German. "President Obama wants to treat marijuana like tobacco but not legalize it. Wait, what?". Vox. Retrieved February 27, 2015.
40. Wheaton, Sarah (March 16, 2015). "Obama snuffs stoner dreams of legalization". Politico. Retrieved March 16, 2015.
41. http://www.gallup.com/poll/150149/record-high-americans-favor-legalizing-marijuana.aspx
42. Juliet Lapidos (July 26, 2014). "The Public Lightens Up About Weed". The New York Times. Retrieved July 28, 2014.
43. "For First Time, Americans Favor Legalizing Marijuana". Gallup. October 22, 2013. Retrieved April 20, 2014.
44. "America’s New Drug Policy Landscape". Pew Research Center. Pew Research Center. April 2, 2014. Retrieved July 28, 2014.
45. Editorial Board (July 2014). "Our Position: Repeal Prohibition, Again". The New York Times. Retrieved July 28, 2014.
46. "In U.S., 58% Back Legal Marijuana Use". Retrieved October 21, 2015.