States with proposed bills to legalize cannabis for adults: 23

• Delaware — HB 305 would legalize and regulate cannabis for adults 21 and older. It is similar to 2021’s HB 150, which passed out of two committees, but includes revisions to increase support.
• Florida — H 467, H 549, H 551, S 776, S 1624, S1626, S 1696, and S 1658
• Georgia — HR 281 would refer to voters a constitutional amendment to legalize and regulate cannabis for adults 21 and older; SB 263 would set up a regulatory framework to legalize and regulate cannabis for adults if voters approved a legislatively referred constitutional amendment to legalize and regulate cannabis.
• Hawaii — SB 767, HB 1202, HB 238, SB 1376, SB 704, and HB 7 would legalize and regulate cannabis for adults. The Senate approved SB 767 in a 20-5 vote on March 9, 2021 but included an effective date more than 100 years in the future. However, the chair of the House Health, Human Services, and Homelessness Committee failed to grant the bill a hearing before a legislative deadline, thus killing it for the year. The legislature reconvenes on January 19, 2022, and the bills carry over.
• Indiana — HB 1311 and SB 414 would legalize and regulate cannabis for adults 21 and older; HB 1070 and SB 324 would legalize possession but would not legalize sales; HB 1049 would not legalize cannabis, but it would create an advisory commission to “regulate the growth, processing, distribution, and sale of legal cannabis in Indiana;” HB 1212 would legalize adult and medical use of cannabis, but only after federal law changes.
• Iowa — SF 83, HF 751, SF 406, and SF 83 would legalize adults' possession of up to an ounce; HF 751 and SF 406 would legalize and regulate cannabis and expunge convictions. The bills carried over from 2021. In addition, three senators are introducing a bill to refer to voters a constitutional amendment to legalize cannabis.
• Kansas — HB 2430 would legalize and regulate cannabis for adults. It did not advance before a crossover deadline, but it carries over to 2022. 
• Kentucky — HB467 and HB461 would legalize and regulate cannabis for adults. The bills carried over from 2021.
• Maryland — HB 1 is a pre-filed resolution to refer the issue of legalization and regulation to voters. Legalization would not take effect until July 2023, and the legislature would need to craft all the details first.
• Minnesota — SF 757, HF 1511, SF 2067, and HF 600 would legalize and regulate cannabis for adults. On May 13, 2021, the House approved HF 600 to legalize cannabis in a 72-61 vote. The legislature’s regular session ended, but the bill carries over to 2022. Session begins on January 31, 2022.
• Mississippi — SB 2183
• Missouri — HJR 83, which was pre-filed, would refer a constitutional amendment on legalizing cannabis to voters.
• Nebraska — LB 546 would legalize and regulate cannabis for adults; LR2CA, if approved by the legislature, would refer a constitutional amendment on legalizing cannabis to voters. The bills carried over from 2021.
• New Hampshire — HB 629, which carried over from 2021, would legalize possession and home cultivation of cannabis; the House of Representatives sent the bill to the Senate on January 6, 2022, in a  241-113 vote. Several new legalization bills were introduced in 2022: HB 1348 would legalize personal possession and cultivation for adults 21 and older, without establishing a legal, regulated market; HB 1468 would legalize personal possession of an unlimited amount for adults 18 and older, without establishing a legal, regulated market; HB 1598 would legalize and regulate cannabis for adults 21 and older and require sales to occur in state-run stores (which would be preempted by federal law); CACR 20 would refer to voters a constitutional amendment legalizing adults’ personal possession of cannabis; CACR 34 would refer to voters a constitutional amendment legalizing the use, sale, or cultivation of cannabis for adults 18 and older; and CACR 35 would refer to voters a constitutional amendment to legalize cannabis for adults. 
• North Carolina — H576, H617, and S646 would legalize and regulate cannabis for adults. They did not advance before the legislature adjourned in 2021. It reconvenes on May 18, 2022, and the bills carry over. 
• Ohio — HB 382, HB 498, and HB 210
• Oklahoma — HB 1961 would refer to voters a constitutional amendment legalizing and regulating cannabis for adults.
• Pennsylvania — HB 1180 and HB 2050 would legalize and regulate cannabis for adults. Both carried over from 2021.
• South Carolina — S 335 would legalize and regulate cannabis for adults; also, S 268 would create an advisory referendum on legalization in 2022. Neither advanced before crossover, but they carry over to 2022. The legislature reconvenes on January 11, 2022.
• South Dakota — HB 3 would legalize and regulate cannabis for adults.
• Tennessee — HB 1587 and SB 1477 would legalize, regulate, and tax adult-use cannabis; HB 1099 would legalize cannabis upon federal legalization.
• West Virginia — SB 15, HB 2291, and HB 2912 would legalize and regulate cannabis for adults. HB 2291 and HB 2912 carried over from 2021. 
• Wisconsin — SB 545 would create a medical cannabis program, in addition to  legalizing and regulating cannabis for adults.

In addition, efforts are underway to put citizen initiatives to legalize cannabis for adults on the ballots in several states, including Arkansas, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, and South Dakota. Eighteen states have already passed laws to legalize and regulate cannabis (four of which did so in 2021): Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington.

States with decriminalization bills: 8

• Florida — H 957, H 725, and S 470
• Georgia — SB 77 would reduce the penalty for possession of up to half an ounce of cannabis to a fine of up to $300, but it would be a misdemeanor. Two other bills, HB 809 and SB 77, would authorize local decriminalization penalties. All three carried over from 2021.
• Iowa — HF 648 would remove jail time for possession but would impose a misdemeanor conviction and a hefty fine of between $105 and $855; SB 407 would reduce various penalties involving cannabis, including reducing the penalty for adults 21 and older possessing up to half an ounce of cannabis to a $100 civil fine. HB 648 and SB 407 carried over from 2021. 
• Pennsylvania — SB 107 would reclassify possession of a small amount of cannabis from a misdemeanor to a summary offense carrying a $25 fine. Public use would be a $100 fine. HB 204 would reduce the penalty for possession of a small amount of cannabis to a fine of up to $100. The bills carried over from 2021. They did not even receive hearings last year. 
• South Carolina — H 3228 (civil citation for up to 28 grams) and H 3571 (civil citation for up to 28 grams, penalty decrease for other drug offenses). The bills carried over from 2021.
• Tennessee — HB 413 and SB 1439 would decriminalize possession and casual exchange of up to an ounce of cannabis. Both carry over from 2021.
• West Virginia — SB 591 and SB 26; SB 591 would reduce the penalty for possessing less than 15 grams of cannabis to a civil fine of no more than $25. SB 26 would reduce the maximum penalty for possession of cannabis to no more than $1,000 without confinement. The bills carried over from 2021.
• Wisconsin — SB 790, SB 164, AB 130, and AB 812; SB 790 would impose a $100 fine for possession of up to 14 grams of cannabis, while SB 164 and AB 130 would impose a fine of up to $100 for possession of up to 10 grams. AB 812 would reduce the penalty for up to 14 grams of cannabis to no more than a $250 fine or 40 hours of community service in lieu of the fine.

Thirty-one states and Washington, D.C. have decriminalized or legalized cannabis possession.

States with bills to create comprehensive medical cannabis programs: 9

• Indiana — HB 1026, HB 1214, HB 1547, and SB 321; the bills carried over from 2021.
• Kansas — SB 92, HB 2184, and SB 287; on March 29, 2021, the House Federal and State Affairs Committee advanced HB 2184 in a 13-8 vote. The House approved a bill that had been amended to be a medical cannabis bill (SB 158) on May 6, 2021 in a 79-42 vote. The bill carried over to 2022.
• Kentucky — HB 136
• Mississippi — SB 2095; the Senate advanced this comprehensive medical cannabis bill in a 47-5 vote on January 13, 2022; it now heads to the House. It would replace a voter-enacted initiative that the state Supreme Court threw out on a technicality.
• Nebraska — LB 474 fell two votes short of a cloture vote in 2021; it carries over to 2022. Advocates are also working to place companion initiatives on the 2022 ballot.
• North Carolina — S 669 and S 711. S 711. On August 18, 2021, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved revisions to SB 711. The bill has additional committees to clear, and the legislature adjourned for the year without those votes occurring. However, the legislature reconvenes on May 18, 2022, and both bills carry over.
• South Carolina — S. 150 and H. 3361; on March 18, 2021, the Senate Medical Affairs Committee advanced S. 150 to the floor in a 9-5 vote. Sen. Hembree contested the bill on the floor, which put it on the contested calendar and delayed a vote. The bills carried over to 2022.
• Tennessee — SB 854, SB 25, HB 666, and HB 621; all of the bills were introduced in 2021 but carried over to 2022.
• Wisconsin — SB 545 would create a medical cannabis program, in addition to legalizing and regulating cannabis for adults.

Thirty-six states, D.C., Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands have effective medical cannabis laws. Three additional states — Georgia, Iowa, and Texas — have more limited laws that allow regulated access to low-THC medical cannabis preparations.

Mississippi would be the 37th medical cannabis state, but the state Supreme Court overturned a voter-enacted initiative based on a numerically impossible-to-comply-with signature requirement. The Senate has passed a replacement bill, which is headed to the House for consideration.

If you live in a state that still prohibits cannabis and no lawmakers have taken the lead to change that, send your state legislators a note to ask them to stand up for humane and sensible cannabis policies. Take a few moments to email them in support of medical cannabis, decriminalization, or legalizing and regulating cannabis.

If you live in a state that has already legalized and regulated cannabis for adults, check out the state’s page to find out what bills are pending to improve (or undermine) the law.