14 Legal Medical Marijuana States
Laws, Fees, and Possession Limits I. Fourteen states have enacted laws that legalize medical marijuana:
State Year How Passed Passed (Yes Vote) ID Card Fee Possession Limit
Accepts other states' registry ID cards?
1.
Alaska
1998 1996 2000 2000 1999 2008 2004 2000 2010
Ballot Measure 8 (58%) Proposition 215 (56%) Ballot Amendment 20 (54%) Senate Bill 862 (32-18 House; 1312 Senate) Ballot Question 2 (61%) Proposal 1 (63%) Initiative 148 (62%) Ballot Question 9 (65%) Senate Bill 119 (48-14 House; 2513 Senate) Senate Bill 523 (36-31 House; 323 Senate) Ballot Measure 67 (55%) Senate Bill 0710 (52-10 House; 331 Senate) Senate Bill 76 (22-7) HB 645 (82-59) Initiative 692 (59%)
$25/$20
1 oz usable; 6 plants (3 mature, 3 immature)
Unknown * No No No Yes Yes Yes No Unknown
2.
California Colorado
$66/$33 8 oz usable; 18 plants (6 mature, 12 immature)** $90 $25 *** $100/$25 $25/$10 $150 + **** 2 oz usable; 6 plants (3 mature, 3 immature) 3 oz usable; 7 plants (3 mature, 4 immature) 2.5 oz usable; 6 plants 2.5 oz usable; 12 plants 1 oz usable; 6 plants 1 oz usable; 7 plants (3 mature, 4 immature) 2 oz usable
3.
4. Hawaii
5. 6. 7.
Maine
Michigan Montana Nevada
8.
9. New Jersey 10.
New Mexico Oregon
2007 1998 2006 2004 1998
$0 $100/$20 $75/$10 $50 *****
6 oz usable; 16 plants (4 mature, 12 immature) 24 oz usable; 24 plants (6 mature, 18 immature) 2.5 oz usable; 12 plants 2 oz usable; 9 plants (2 mature, 7 immature) 24 oz usable; 15 plants
No No Yes No No
11.
12.
Rhode Island Vermont
14.
13.
Washington
[Editor's note: All 14 states require proof of residency to be considered a qualifying patient for medical marijuana use. Karen O'Keefe, JD, Director of State Policies for Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), told ProCon.org in a Jan. 19, 2010 email that "Patients and their caregivers can cultivate in 13 of the 14 states. Home cultivation is not allowed in New Jersey and a special license is required in New Mexico."]
II. Two states have passed laws that, although favorable towards medical marijuana, do not legalize its use:
State
1.
Year Passed 1996 2003
Provision Allows physicians to prescribe marijuana (federal law prohibits physicians from prescribing Schedule I drugs) Allows medical use defense in court
Arizona
2.
Maryland
I. Fourteen states have enacted laws that legalize medical marijuana:
Approved Conditions: AIDS, anorexia, arthritis, cachexia, cancer, chronic pain, glaucoma, migraine, persistent muscle spasms, including spasms associated with multiple sclerosis, seizures, including seizures associated with epilepsy, severe nausea; Other chronic or persistent medical symptoms. Amended: Effective: Jan. 1, 2004 Senate Bill 420
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Imposes statewide guidelines outlining how much medicinal marijuana patients may grow and possess. Possession/Cultivation: Qualified patients and their primary caregivers may possess no more than eight ounces of dried marijuana and/or six mature (or 12 immature) marijuana plants. However, S.B. 420 allows patients to possess larger amounts of marijuana when recommended by a physician. The legislation also allows counties and municipalities to approve and/or maintain local ordinances permitting patients to possess larger quantities of medicinal pot than allowed under the new state guidelines. S.B. 420 also grants implied legal protection to the state's medicinal marijuana dispensaries, stating, "Qualified patients, persons with valid identification cards, and the designated primary caregivers of qualified patients ... who associate within the state of California in order collectively or cooperatively to cultivate marijuana for medical purposes, shall not solely on the basis of that fact be subject to state criminal
sanctions."
**[Editor's Note: On Jan. 21, 2010, the California Supreme Court affirmed the May 22, 2008 Second District Court of Appeals ruling that the possession limits set by SB 420 violate the California constitution because the voter-approved Prop. 215 can only be amended by the voters. As of Dec. 22, 2009, the California Medical Marijuana Program was still operating under the guidelines in SB 420 because it had not received instruction otherwise, according to program representative Paula Sahleen-Buckingham in a phone interview with ProCon.org. We have not yet confirmed how the Jan. 21, 2010 ruling will affect the implementation of the medical marijuana program in California.]
The Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Pilot Program Act, which passed the Illinois senate last May by a cliff-hanging vote of 30 to 28, would bring the curtain down on this long-running Alphonse and Gaston act by writing the police out of the script. But like its predecessor, it was crafted with abundant caution. It says that with a physician's written permission, someone diagnosed with a "debilitating medical condition," and also his or her primary caregiver, can have up to six cannabis plants, only three of which can be "mature," or in the budding stage, when the levels of active chemicals are highest. The Illinois Department of Public Health would determine procedural specifics, and the law would expire three years after taking effect unless renewed by the legislature.
