Decriminalization of cannabis in the United States

Decriminalization of non-medical cannabis in the United States has been attempted since the 1970s. As views on cannabis (or marijuana) have liberalized, over half of the states have either approved it for medical use, decriminalized it for recreational use, or completely legalized it and approved it for retail sale.

Between 1973 and 1978, eleven states decriminalized marijuana, but after 1978 decriminalization in the U.S. ground to a halt. Not until 2001 did another state, Nevada, reduce marijuana possession to a misdemeanor. Since 2012, several other states have decriminalized and even legalized marijuana, ushering in a new chapter in the history of the decriminalization.

Proponents of decriminalization argue that legalizing cannabis would free billions of dollars now used to prosecute users, provide several billions in tax revenue, free a substantial amount of law-enforcement resources which could be used to prevent more serious crimes, free a substantial amount of prison resources, and reduce the income of street gangs and organized crime who grow, import, process, and sell cannabis. Opponents argue that cannabis on the street today has a much higher percent of THC with a stronger drug effect, and that decriminalization will lead to usage, increased crime, and abuse of actual dangerous illicit drugs.

Cannabis remains on the Schedule I list of controlled substances under U.S. federal law. In 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Gonzales v. Raich that the Commerce Clause and Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution allowed the federal government to ban the use of cannabis (including medical use) because federal law is "supreme" and trumps state law to the contrary.

Multiple states, counties, and cities have decriminalized cannabis. They may require drug education, or drug treatment in place of incarceration, and/or criminal charges for possession of small amounts of cannabis, or have made various cannabis offenses the lowest priority for law enforcement.

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