The United States has still not legalized marijuana federally, and legalization is limited to the states. There are three levels of legalization in the U.S. states. It includes four U.S. territories in the Atlantic (Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI)) and Pacific (Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI)).
The three degrees of legalization
Level I states are shown in green on the legalization map above.
Level II states are shown in blue on the legalization map above.
Tier 3 states, which include conditions where the state legislature has passed laws allowing for strict restrictions (usually with low or negligible THC levels), are shown in yellow on the legalization map.
Georgia passed a severely restricted access (SLA) law in 2015 called the Hayleigh’s Hope Act, named after Hayleigh, a young child with debilitating epilepsy.
South Carolina’s SLA law, passed in 2014, is named the “Julian Act” after a brain-damaged South Carolina infant with epilepsy who had to leave the state to travel to a legal form (Colorado) to treat the seizure problem that afflicted the child’s body.
Other Tier 3 SLA states restrict the ingredients of the product and its medical use and how it is ingested, where it is administered or obtained, and sometimes to research facilities.
Mississippi upgraded to a Level II medical state.
This month, Mississippi underwent the latest evolution from a Level III restricted state to a Level II medical use state.
On Feb. 2, 2022, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves, a Republican elected in 2019, signed medical use (Tier II) legislation into law. It ended a 15-month impasse between Mississippi voters and their legislators.
Mississippi’s new medical marijuana law gives the Mississippi Department of Health the authority to add medical conditions and issue medical marijuana licenses and registrations. Health conditions listed on the U.S. Department of Health website as qualifying for medical marijuana include cancer, Parkinson’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, post-traumatic stress disorder, HIV/AIDS, and autism, as well as other conditions associated with terminal or debilitating illnesses, such as “wasting” disease at the end of life.
The Mississippi Department of Health expects to issue permits to growing facilities, processing facilities, testing facilities, waste disposal, and transportation entities within 120 days. The department reports that it expects to license Mississippi medical marijuana dispensaries within 150 days.
Other SLA states considering legalization changes
Other severely restricted Class III states are considering moving forward with medical marijuana legalization. These include South Carolina and Kentucky.
South Carolina.
In February 2022, the South Carolina Senate passed a medical marijuana bill by 28 to 15. The approval sends the South Carolina Compassionate Care Act to the South Carolina House of Representatives for consideration. If approved (and then signed by South Carolina’s governor), the legislation in its current form would legalize medical marijuana only in oils, creams, chewing gum, and edibles. It would prohibit its use in any nebulized or dried form.
Kentucky
Kentucky, a state with severely restricted access that allows CBD products for research, is taking several initiatives to move away from the state’s access restrictions.
In February 2022, state lawmakers introduced a series of marijuana bills to legalize adult-use and medical marijuana. The Kentucky Democrats’ proposal, unveiled in both chambers on Feb. 17, 2022, is known as the “LETT’s Grow Bill.
Even states specializing in health care are “taking action” to legalize adult-use
In states like Ohio, Missouri, Arkansas, South Dakota, and Oklahoma, pro-reform forces have been moving to ensure that adult-use ballot initiatives are placed on the November 2022 ballot in each state.
During a stopover in Southern California on Feb. 14, 2022, U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio, who has been a medically legal state since 2016, said that Ohio – which has been a medically legal state since 2016 – is expected to legalize adult-use on the November 2022 ballot, which he speculated could be of interest to college-age voters.
Other medically legal states, including Delaware, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Hawaii, and Rhode Island, currently have members of those state legislatures proposing and pushing for adult-use marijuana legalization.
For states like Maryland that use a referendum process (where the legislature also puts questions on the ballot to get voters on the ballot), lawmakers are about to schedule an adult-use referendum for the November 2022 ballot.
99% of Americans live in areas with some level of legalization
There are approximately 330 million residents in the United States. Almost 99 percent of U.S. residents live in somewhat legalized places, and the legalization pyramid shows that less than 7 million of those 330 million people live in areas where state laws make marijuana illegal.
Therefore, those seeking to start, diversify, or invest in a cannabis business should consider each state’s laws, regulations, and practices (and U.S. territory). It is believed that by 2022, more states will join the legalization process.
