Medical cannabis in the United States

In the United States, the use of cannabis for medical purposes is legal in 29 states, plus the territories of Guam and Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia, as of April 2017. Several other states have more restrictive laws permitting the use of cannabidiol (CBD) oil only, with strict limitations on THC content. There is considerable variation in medical cannabis laws from state to state, including how it is produced / distributed, how it can be consumed, what medical conditions it can be used for.

The first state to pass an effective medical cannabis law was California in 1996, when voters approved Proposition 215 by a 56–44 margin. Several states followed with successful ballot initiatives in 1998, and in 2000 Hawaii became the first state to legalize medical cannabis by state legislature. In recent years, medical cannabis has spread to the Southern United States, as Florida, Arkansas, and West Virginia have all approved its use.

At the federal level, cannabis remains a prohibited substance by way of the Controlled Substances Act of 1970. Under the CSA, the Drug Enforcement Administration classifies cannabis as a Schedule I drug, determined to have a high potential for abuse and no accepted medical value – thus prohibiting its use for any purpose. The Justice Department has enforced this policy through various means, including an increasing number of raids on dispensaries during the Bush / Obama administrations, and legal action threatened / initiated against various other parties involved in the implementation of state medical cannabis laws (doctors, landlords, state officials). In December 2014, however, the Rohrabacher–Farr amendment was signed into law, prohibiting the Justice Department from spending funds to interfere with the implementation of state medical cannabis laws.

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