Recreational Marijuana Is on the March

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

(Note:  Most of the information that follows was taken from the article "Where is Marijuana Legal?  A Guide to Marijuana Legalization." by Claire Hansen, Horus Alas, and Elliott Davis, Jr. which appeared in the July 27, 2022, issue of  U.S. News and World Report.)

The United States federal government regards marijuana as an illegal substance with no legitimate medical use and a high potential for misuse.  However, over the past several decades the popularity and open use of marijuana, which the feds classify as a Schedule 1 Drug under the Controlled Substances Act, has become significantly more widespread in the United States, and seems to be openly pitting the will of the people against what many consider to be an outdated incursion by government into civil society.

A tenuous situation between some local jurisdictions, state governments, and the federal government over how to respond to legal infractions regarding the use of the increasingly popular illegal weed began being played out over the last couple of decades in the courts of public opinion as well as those aligned with political jurisdictions.

Then, in November of 2012, voters in the states of Colorado and Washington stepped into the ever-widening breach between the people and the national government over the issue of marijuana, and passed laws which flew directly in the face of federal statutes.  

Voters in Colorado approved a measure in November of 2012 which said that adults in Colorado over the age of 21 could possess and give away up to an ounce of marijuana, and grow up to a total of six plants each - with residences being limited to twelve plants regardless of how many people reside there.  Using marijuana in public remained illegal.  A tax structure was also implemented to impact sales at all state-licensed dispensaries.

Voters in Washington passed legislation which said that adults in that state who were over the age of 21 could buy and possess up to an ounce of marijuana, 16 ounces of marijuana-infused edibles in solid form, 72 ounces of marijuana-infused liquid products, and seven grams of marijuana concentrate.  It remained illegal to use marijuana in public or for Washingtonians to grow marijuana plants at home.  Sales at government-licensed dispensaries were taxed by the state.

The following year, in 2013, the US Justice Department responded to the new marijuana laws in Colorado and Washington, as well as to the ever-increasing public pressure to decriminalize use of the plant.  In the Cole Memorandum the Justice Department backed away from the issue by saying that it would not challenge state's legalization laws at that time, and that it expected the states to have robust enforcement actions of their own.

The possession, distribution, and use of marijuana remained illegal at the federal level, but the feds would not actively interfere with new state laws that ran contrary to the federal laws regarding marijuana.  The door had been kicked open, and the federal government was declining to push it closed.  

Jeff Sessions, a former US Senator from Alabama who was Trump's first US Attorney General, rescinded the Cole Memo in 2018, but the US Justice Department has nevertheless stood clear of pursuing marijuana  "crimes" unless they involved bigger issues like organized crime or arms trafficking.  

After the United States government effectively withdrew itself from marijuana enforcement, other states have rushed to join the ranks of Colorado and Washington by making the substance legal to some degree or another.  Currently 19 states, the District of Columbia, and the US Territory of Guam have some form of legalized marijuana, with most being in the American West and the Northeast, and the fewest being in the South - the states of the old Confederacy. 

The states where the use of recreational marijuana is legal include:  Colorado, Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Montana, Alaska, Illinois, Michigan, Virginia, Maine, Vermont, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Rhode Island.  It was also made briefly legal by a vote of the people in South Dakota, but that state's governor, Kristi Noem, went to court to fight the measure and the state Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional and therefore not valid.

The use and possession of marijuana has been decriminalized in several other states, a status which generally means that a conviction will not result in jail time.  In many of those states it has also been approved for medical use.

Overall the laws regarding the use of marijuana are changing because public attitudes are changing.   According to polling by the Gallup organization, 12% of the US population supported legalization of marijuana in 1969, 31% favored it in 2000, and over half of Americans surveyed favored legalization of recreational marijuana in 2013.  Support is strongest among those under the age of thirty,  but nearly two-thirds of Americans aged 50-64 also support legalization.

Public support for the legalization of recreational marijuana is growing at a fast rate, and while the United States government has been slow to bring its statutes alongside the will of the people, it has nevertheless wisely opted not to get in the way.

Eventually the will of the people will wend its way into the halls of Congress and national legislation will begin to more closely resemble that of the states.  Maybe then we can begin using our jails and prisons to house real criminals and leave the more non-conformist among us to contemplate their navels and bake brownies.

But until then, know your state's statutes and be careful!