Marijuana legalization by state falls into four tiers: 24 states and Washington, D.C. allow adults 21 and older to buy and use recreationally, 13 more allow medical use with a doctor’s recommendation, a smaller group permits only low-THC CBD products for narrow conditions, and a handful still prohibit marijuana entirely. Federal law has shifted too. In 2026, the Justice Department moved state-regulated medical marijuana products to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act, while recreational marijuana stays on Schedule I. That split keeps real consequences in place for banking, housing, firearms, employment, and anything that crosses a state line.
States Where Adults Can Buy and Use Recreationally
The following 24 states have legalized marijuana for adults 21 and older: 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. No medical card or diagnosis is required. Washington, D.C. also legalized possession and home cultivation, but Congress has repeatedly blocked the District from establishing retail sales through annual spending riders, so D.C. residents can grow and possess marijuana but cannot buy it from a licensed store.
Possession limits in these states generally run from one to three ounces of dried flower, with lower caps on concentrates. Going over the limit still carries criminal penalties even where marijuana is legal; depending on how far over the line you are, that can mean a misdemeanor with potential jail time or a lesser infraction. Retail purchases happen at state-licensed dispensaries that use seed-to-sale tracking systems to follow every product from cultivation through the final sale.
Home Cultivation Rules
Most adult-use states let you grow at home, but the plant counts vary. Oregon permits four plants per person. Michigan allows up to twelve. Colorado, California, and several others cap it at six, with some distinguishing between mature and immature plants. A few adult-use states do not extend cultivation rights to recreational users at all; Illinois, for example, limits home growing to medical patients. Local governments sometimes layer additional restrictions on top of the state rules.
What You Pay at the Register
State excise taxes on recreational marijuana vary more than most buyers expect. Connecticut charges 3% on retail sales, Missouri 6%, and Maryland 9%. Washington state imposes a 37% excise tax at the retail level. These taxes come on top of regular state and local sales taxes, which is why licensed retail prices often sit well above black-market equivalents.
States with Medical-Only Programs
Thirteen states allow marijuana for medical use but not general recreational use: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Utah, and West Virginia.1Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. State Medical Cannabis Laws You need a written recommendation from a licensed physician for a qualifying condition, which you then use to apply for a state-issued medical marijuana identification card.
Qualifying conditions vary by state but commonly include cancer, epilepsy, HIV/AIDS, post-traumatic stress disorder, multiple sclerosis, and chronic pain that has not responded to conventional treatments. Chronic pain is by far the most common condition reported by medical marijuana patients nationally. Some conditions on state lists, such as glaucoma, have limited or no scientific evidence supporting marijuana as an effective treatment.2PubMed Central. Qualifying Conditions of Medical Cannabis License Holders in the United States
Card application fees typically run $25 to $150 and must be renewed annually. Registered patients are entered into a confidential database that dispensary staff and law enforcement can check to verify legal status. Patients are usually restricted to a 30-day or 90-day supply based on their physician’s recommendation, and some states prohibit smokable flower entirely, limiting patients to oils, tinctures, capsules, or edibles. Sharing your medical marijuana with someone who is not a registered patient can cost you your card and lead to criminal charges.
Will Your Medical Card Work in Another State?
Usually, no. Nevada is one of the few states offering full reciprocity: out-of-state cardholders can walk into a licensed dispensary and buy with no advance registration. Hawaii requires advance registration with the state health department, and Oklahoma issues a 30-day temporary visitor license through its medical marijuana authority.
A separate group, including Arkansas, Maine, Missouri, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island, recognizes out-of-state cards for possession only. You won’t be prosecuted for having marijuana you brought with you, but you can’t buy from local dispensaries. The catch: transporting marijuana across state lines is a federal crime even between two states where it is legal, which leaves patients in possession-only reciprocity states in an awkward legal position.
CBD-Only, Decriminalization, and Prohibition
Low-THC and CBD-Only States
Several states have passed narrow laws allowing low-THC, high-CBD products for a handful of severe medical conditions. This group includes Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas, among others. These are not comprehensive medical programs. They typically cover only conditions like intractable epilepsy or severe seizure disorders, restrict THC content to 0.3% to 1%, and create no retail marketplace. If you have standard marijuana with normal THC levels in one of these states, you face the same criminal penalties as in any prohibition state.
Decriminalization
Decriminalization is a middle ground. Possession stays illegal, but small amounts result in a ticket and fine rather than arrest and a criminal record. Nebraska is a clear example: possession of one ounce or less is a civil infraction with a maximum fine of $300 for a first offense and no jail time. Sale and production remain full criminal offenses, and exceeding the possession threshold bumps the charge back up to a misdemeanor or felony.
Full Prohibition
A small number of states maintain complete prohibition with no legal framework for marijuana of any kind. Idaho and Kansas have no medical program, no CBD-only law, and no decriminalization provisions. Any possession, including low-THC CBD products containing more than trace amounts of THC, is a criminal offense. Penalties vary, but even small-quantity possession can result in misdemeanor charges and potential jail time.
What Federal Law Still Controls
Under the Controlled Substances Act, marijuana is a Schedule I substance, the most restrictive category.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 21 USC 812 – Schedules of Controlled Substances Manufacturing, distributing, or possessing with intent to distribute is a federal crime regardless of what your state allows. Penalties scale with quantity: 100 or more plants triggers a five-year mandatory minimum and up to 40 years in prison, with fines reaching $5,000,000 for individuals. At 1,000 or more plants, the mandatory minimum jumps to ten years, the maximum becomes life imprisonment, and fines can reach $10,000,000.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 21 USC 841 – Prohibited Acts A Federal prosecutors retain full authority to bring these charges in legal states; they simply choose not to in most cases.
The 2026 partial rescheduling placed two categories into Schedule III: FDA-approved products containing marijuana, and marijuana products regulated under a state medical marijuana license.5U.S. Department of Justice. Justice Department Places FDA-Approved Marijuana Products and Products Containing Marijuana Regulated by State Medical Marijuana Licenses in Schedule III Recreational marijuana and anything outside the state medical system remains Schedule I. Several areas of daily life are governed by federal rules that do not bend to state legalization.
Banking and Business Taxes
Banks and credit unions face serious legal risk in serving marijuana businesses. The Bank Secrecy Act requires financial institutions to file suspicious activity reports on transactions involving funds derived from illegal activity, and FinCEN guidance confirms that obligation applies to marijuana-related businesses even where state law permits them.6Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. BSA Expectations Regarding Marijuana-Related Businesses Many cannabis businesses still operate on a cash-only basis.
Section 280E of the Internal Revenue Code bars any business trafficking in Schedule I or II controlled substances from deducting ordinary business expenses on its federal taxes.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 280E – Expenditures in Connection with the Illegal Sale of Drugs A dispensary pays income tax on gross profit rather than net profit. The 2026 partial rescheduling may change the 280E calculation for state-regulated medical businesses, since the section only reaches Schedule I and II. Recreational marijuana businesses remain fully subject to 280E.
Federally Subsidized Housing
If you live in public housing or receive Section 8 rental assistance, marijuana use, even with a state medical card, can get you evicted or denied admission. HUD has stated explicitly that it does not have the discretion to admit marijuana users to federally assisted housing programs and that public housing agencies cannot make reasonable accommodations for medical marijuana.8HUD Exchange. Can a Public Housing Agency (PHA) Make a Reasonable Accommodation for Medical Marijuana? Federal law requires housing authorities to establish policies allowing termination of tenancy when a household member uses a controlled substance illegally under federal law. State law doesn’t change that.
Firearms
Federal law prohibits anyone who is “an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance” from possessing firearms or ammunition.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 922 – Unlawful Acts Because marijuana remains Schedule I for most users, this creates a direct conflict for anyone who participates in a state program and owns guns. ATF Form 4473, which you fill out when buying a firearm from a licensed dealer, asks whether you are an unlawful user of a controlled substance. Answering falsely is a separate federal felony. Whether the 2026 partial rescheduling affects this restriction is an unsettled legal question that courts have not yet resolved.
Travel
Airport security is federal jurisdiction. TSA officers are required to report suspected violations of law to law enforcement if they find marijuana during screening.10Transportation Security Administration. What Can I Bring? Medical Marijuana TSA does not actively search for it, but if it turns up during a routine bag check, the matter gets referred to local or airport police. What happens next depends on the jurisdiction: in states like New York, police may send you on your way with small quantities; in prohibition states you could face arrest. Regardless of what local police decide, flying with marijuana across state lines is a federal offense. Driving between two legal states doesn’t help either. Crossing a state border with marijuana in the car is interstate trafficking under federal law, even if both origin and destination allow possession.
Employment and Drug Testing
State legalization does not guarantee your job is safe. The Drug-Free Workplace Act requires federal contractors and grantees to maintain workplace policies prohibiting the use of controlled substances.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 41 USC 8102 – Drug-Free Workplace Requirements for Federal Contractors Any employer holding a federal contract above the simplified acquisition threshold must publish a statement prohibiting controlled substance use in the workplace and discipline employees convicted of workplace drug violations. Workers at federal contractors and federal agencies can be tested and fired for marijuana use regardless of state law.
Private employers in most states can still test for marijuana and fire workers who test positive, even where recreational use is legal. The important exception is the growing number of states, over two dozen now, that prohibit employment discrimination against registered medical marijuana patients, either through statute or state court rulings. These protections generally prevent employers from refusing to hire or terminating someone solely because they hold a medical card or test positive for THC, as long as they are not impaired on the job. Safety-sensitive positions like heavy equipment operators and transportation workers are typically exempt. If you work for a private employer in a recreational-only state with no employment protections, a positive drug test can still cost you your job even if you used marijuana legally on your own time.
Driving After Use
Every state prohibits driving while impaired by marijuana, including states where recreational use is legal. The enforcement challenge is that THC does not lend itself to the clean threshold testing that exists for alcohol. THC metabolites can linger in your blood for days or weeks after use, long after any impairing effects have worn off.
Five states (Illinois, Montana, Nevada, Ohio, and Washington) have set specific per se blood THC limits, ranging from 2 to 5 nanograms per milliliter. If your blood THC level exceeds the limit, you are presumed impaired by law, similar to a blood alcohol level above 0.08%. Colorado takes a slightly different approach: testing at or above 5 nanograms per milliliter creates a permissible inference of impairment, but you can present evidence to rebut that inference. Most other states rely on officer observations, field sobriety tests, and Drug Recognition Expert evaluations rather than a specific THC number.
Roadside oral fluid testing devices are beginning to enter use in some states. Devices like the SoToxa system and the Dräger DrugTest 5000 test saliva for THC’s parent molecule rather than metabolites, which better indicates recent use. They function like portable breath tests for alcohol, helping establish probable cause for further testing rather than serving as definitive evidence in court. First-offense marijuana DUI penalties are comparable to alcohol DUI: fines from several hundred to a few thousand dollars, potential license suspension, mandatory drug education or treatment programs, and possible jail time.
Clearing Old Convictions
Over 20 states have enacted cannabis-specific expungement programs, using a mix of automatic and petition-based mechanisms. Automatic expungement means the state reviews existing criminal records and seals qualifying convictions without any action from you. Petition-based programs require you to file paperwork and sometimes appear before a judge.
California, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, and Vermont all offer some form of automatic relief. Minnesota’s program, enacted as part of the Adult-Use Cannabis Act, covers an estimated 66,000 records in the state’s criminal history system, with an additional 230,000 felony-level records eligible for review by a dedicated Cannabis Expungement Board.12Minnesota Department of Public Safety. BCA Prepares to Implement Clean Slate Adult-Use Cannabis Expungements Other states, including Arizona, Michigan, Oregon, and Washington, offer only petition-based processes.
Expungement typically seals the record from public view, keeping it off background checks for employment, housing, or education. It does not always destroy the record. Sealed records in one state may still be visible to federal agencies or through the national criminal records system. If you have an old marijuana conviction in a state that has since legalized, check whether you qualify. Many legal aid organizations offer free help with the petition process, and in automatic-expungement states, your record may already be cleared without any action on your part.