The last two decades have seen a pretty consistent growth of legal cannabis use throughout the United States. In 1996, California became the first state that allowed medical marijuana to be used through Proposition 215. As of right now, 23 states and Washington D.C., have allowed some form of marijuana to be used for certain illnesses.
However, legal marijuana is not just for people with those conditions; in Colorado and Washington state, recreational marijuana was legalized in 2012. In 2014, Oregon and Alaska allowed people 21 or older to smoke recreational pot. These four states became research subjects for the rest of the country. The legislatures of Colorado and Washington have supported legal marijuana by all of the revenue it has generated. This tax revenue has provided a large source of funding for schools as well as law enforcement.
In 2016, it became evident that many more states are finding cannabis initiatives and amendments on their ballots. Nevada has already generated the amount of signatures needed to add recreational cannabis to its ballot. Also, California and Ohio will likely join in. In Vermont, legislators are thinking about just passing the law and allowing recreational marijuana without a vote, with some rules of course.
But legal cannabis use could be growing as rapidly as ever if there weren’t such a long list of restrictions proposed by the federal government. The most restrictive barrier is the current status of marijuana. It is considered a Schedule I drug which makes it considered as dangerous as drugs like heroin. As a result, no research could be performed on it yet lawmakers say that they need more research before they are going to reclassify cannabis. At the moment, it is still illegal everywhere even though state governments have been legalizing the green plant independently.
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