According to Gallup polls, more than two-thirds of Americans support legalizing cannabis for adults’ use. State-by-state polling shows plurality or majority support in every single state. Yet cannabis is still illegal in 26 states.
Over half the U.S. population lives in a legal cannabis state. States that have legalized cannabis are blue, red, and purple: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington. (Voters in South Dakota passed a legalization law in November 2020, but it was overturned in court.)
MPP played a leading role in the campaigns to enact 14 of the 24 legalization laws, including the first legalization state in the nation — Colorado — and the first two through the state legislature, rather than the ballot box — Illinois and Vermont.
Below you will find more information about those laws and how they are working, along with materials to make the case for allowing adults to use a substance that is safer than alcohol.
NOTE: Many of these materials have not been updated yet to reflect that Ohio voters legalized cannabis in November 2023. A few do not yet include updates for legalization laws that passed since November 2022 in Delaware, Maryland, Minnesota, and Missouri.
The Case for Legalizing Cannabis and Regulating Sales