Confused about weed laws ahead of 4/20? Here’s where the law stands in each state
Saturday marks a high holiday for cannabis users — but not all American adults can legally celebrate.
The unofficial 4/20 holiday, celebrated April 20, marks an occasion for smokers and producers to celebrate marijuana. The numbers 420 most likely originated in Marin County, California, in the 1970s, according to Time Magazine, but the origin is a little murky.
Since the holiday’s creation, weed laws in the U.S. have changed.
Cannabis users have been able to purchase and use the drug recreationally in some parts of the country since 2012 — but the substance still remains federally illegal. Across the board, marijuana is only legal for recreational use by those over the age of 21.
Twenty-two states and Washington, D.C., have followed suit since Colorado and Washington first legalized recreational marijuana, but efforts to legalize across states and on a federal level continue.
In the past year, three states have legalized cannabis for recreational use.
Delaware legalized recreational use and sales for adults 21 and over in April 2023. Recreational use in Minnesota was adopted in August 2023, while sales will be legal in 2025.
Most recently, Ohioans voted to legalize recreational use of marijuana during a November election.
Kentucky legalized weed for medicinal use in March 2023, but the law does not go into effect until 2025.
Wisconsin, Nebraska, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania have taken recent steps to legalize recreational use in the last year. Though New Hampshire’s bill recently passed in the state’s House of Representatives, the governor refused to sign the bill into law, according to Forbes.
Here is where marijuana laws stand in each state. Hover over the state to learn more.
What’s up with federal marijuana laws?
Though the drug remains federally illegal, President Joe Biden pardoned thousands with federal marijuana possession charges in 2022. The pardon, however, does not apply to those convicted under state law.
“Sending people to prison for possessing marijuana has upended too many lives and incarcerated people for conduct that many states no longer prohibit,” Biden said in an October 2022 news release.
Biden subsequently announced a plan to deschedule marijuana as a Schedule I drug.
“This is the same schedule as for heroin and LSD, and even higher than the classification of fentanyl and methamphetamine – the drugs that are driving our overdose epidemic,” Biden said in the release.
Marijuana continues to be classified as a Schedule I drug today, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.
More in US are trying weed, polls show
Since marijuana was legalized in some states, more Americans have experimented with it, according to a 2023 Gallup report. As of August, at least 50% of adults in the U.S. said they have tried marijuana, up from 38% in 2013, according to the poll.
Multiple studies cite negative cognitive effects of cannabis on adolescent users, according to the American Psychological Association’s June 2023 report. However, the substance has been proven to be a “safe alternative to other drugs” for adults with preexisting mental health conditions.
“Science is having a hard time keeping up with the enormous increase in products available,” Columbia University’s Margaret Haney told the American Psychological Association. “Especially because researchers have been hamstrung by regulatory hurdles.”
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