Particular Report
American attitudes in direction of marijuana legalization are rising increasingly more favorable. A 2021 Pew Analysis Center ballot discovered that 60% of People really feel marijuana must be authorized for medical and leisure use, whereas an extra 31% say it must be authorized for medical use alone.
These altering attitudes have translated into altering legal guidelines on the state stage. A decade in the past, marijuana was illegal in each single U.S. state. As of early 2022, adults 21 and over can legally eat hashish recreationally in 18 states and Washington D.C., with extra states making the push for leisure use annually.
To find out the states the place marijuana is authorized, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed data from advocacy group Marijuana Coverage Venture. Knowledge on grownup utilization of marijuana got here from the Nationwide Survey On Drug Use And Well being from the U.S. Division of Well being and Human Companies
Final 12 months, 4 states legalized marijuana for grownup leisure use – Connecticut, New Mexico, New York, and Virginia. Virginia’s legalization marks the primary time that any Southern state has absolutely legalized hashish.
Not each push for legalization has been profitable. South Dakota voters authorized a 2020 poll measure that might have allowed leisure hashish utilization, however the measure was overturned. Gov. Kristi Noem and others challenged the legislation as much as the state Supreme Court docket, which struck down the initiative in 2021.
As extra states have legalized marijuana, they’ve additionally made an effort to deal with the way in which drug legal guidelines affected residents previously – notably folks of shade. Regardless of reporting roughly equal marijuana utilization charges, Black People are greater than 3 times extra more likely to be incarcerated for marijuana-related offenses than white People. And in some states, the disparity is even larger. These are the states with the biggest disparities in marijuana arrests.
Click on right here to see 18 states the place marijuana is authorized