2021 was a key year in the fight for legal marijuana across the country.
Marijuana is currently legal in 36 states for medical reasons and is available for recreation in 18 states. Only four states maintain a total ban on cannabis products; three other states have decriminalized it but not legalized it; and seven states keep marijuana banned but legalize some cannabis products such as CBD oil.
Wisconsin is divided between a progressive governor and a regressive legislature. Governor Tony Evers repeatedly tried to pass cannabis reform, including full legalization, through the power levers accessible to him, but the Republican-controlled legislature thwarted all attempts, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives Republican Robin Vos has announced that legalizing marijuana has “zero chance.” to pass a Republican legislature. “Currently, two competing bills have been introduced in the Wisconsin Legislature: one bill, sponsored by State Sen. Melissa Agard, seeks to legalize marijuana, while another, supported by the Republican majority, it aims to further increase the criminalization of cannabis in the state, which has a much higher chance of going through the Republican attack.
Elsewhere in 2021, seven states adopted recreational marijuana and two more adopted medical marijuana. Most states that have not legalized cannabis are still choosing to decriminalize it, such as Louisiana, and other states, including Pennsylvania and Rhode Island, are still debating marijuana reform bills when it comes to publication.
Referendums in the November 2020 election vote are directly related to the reforms of some states. Three new states obtained recreational marijuana rights, one more has earned medical marijuana rights, but Republican courts overturned two more measures, depriving South Dakota and Mississippi residents of recreational and medicinal cannabis, respectively. As it may take months to act on the decisions made at the polls, the reform decided in November 2020 was implemented in 2021, starting with Montana.
Montana – recreational
Cannabis possession became legal on Jan. 1 after more than 340,000 Montana residents voted in favor of Initiative 190 at the polls in 2020. Recreational sales will not begin, however, until 2022.
Arizona – recreational
The state began in 2021 with the legal possession of marijuana; retail sales of recreational cannabis began on January 22nd. Arizona became the state with the fastest change in the ban on recreational sales. In a model of democratic efficiency, less than two months passed between the certification of election results and the sale of the first legal board.
New Jersey – Recreational
It took until February 22 for the results of the November election to become law in New Jersey. Unlike Arizona, where an election initiative is transcribed directly into law when it is passed by voters, New Jersey requires legislative action to implement the results of any successful referendum. New Jersey residents passed the marijuana legalization amendment with more than 67% in favor, but that meant nothing until lawmakers passed legislation that allowed for reform, which was passed. hold out. Residents of the state continued to be arrested for theoretically legal possession of marijuana until lawmakers agreed to toughen sanctions on adults who provide marijuana to minors.
South Dakota – Medicine & Recreation
State Measure 26 to legalize medical marijuana won by a large majority of 70%, while recreational amendment A won by 54%. Medical cannabis became legal in the state as of July 1, 2021, with no additional hurdles. This is where the real problems begin, as Republican officials have struggled to undo the legalization process. The most significant problems arose when Republican judges and lawmakers resorted to foul play to overturn democratically chosen measures with bipartisan approval.
South Dakota would have become the first state to legalize both medicine and recreation at the same time, but Republican Gov. Kristi Noem and her administration overturned the recreational half of the measure.
The South Dakota Supreme Court is currently considering whether to accept this case and reinstate legal recreational cannabis. Because all members of the South Dakota Supreme Court are affiliated with the Republican Party, advocates do not expect the court to support the voters’ decision. South Dakota lawmakers, meanwhile, are trying to pass a bill that would legalize the legalization of recreational marijuana, regardless of what Republican dogmatists want.
Mississippi – Medicine (dump)
Despite voting in favor of legal medical marijuana by a large margin — more than 73 percent — Republican courts stole it from the Mississippians. When Mississippi instituted citizen initiatives to put problems to the vote, the state had five congressional districts. The state constitution stipulates that congressional districts must each represent 20% of the initiative’s signatures, requiring the support of all five districts. However, in 2000, Mississippi left a congressional district. The state now has only four districts, but the constitution still requires signatures from five different districts, which is impossible.
Despite this problem, there have been numerous election initiatives in Mississippi since 2000, all of which were allowed by the state Supreme Court, until now, when the court cited this as a reason to block the legalization of marijuana. .
New York – recreational
On March 31, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the bill that legalizes adult cannabis in New York. It had been a key promise of Cuomo to fill the city coffers and focus on social justice, especially racial restorative justice. The bill lasted three years of debate, but was passed by both chambers of the state legislature with a super-majority vote.
Alabama – Medicine
Several Republican lawmakers obstructed the killing of the marijuana reform bill when it hit the ground running. Independently, SB 46 was passed, and on May 17, medical marijuana was added to Alabama law. Although the bill was finally passed, the final version was removed through committees; research revenue on marijuana tax was halved, the list of conditions for receiving cannabis treatment was shortened, and provisions were made to make it difficult and costly for doctors to have the ability to recommend marijuana. to their patients.
Another source of concern for Alabama activists is that the bill only allows doctors to prescribe marijuana when “conventional therapeutic intervention and opiate therapy are contraindicated or have been shown to be ineffective,” encouraging doctors to favor the prescription of addictive opioids over non-addictive cannabis.
New Mexico – recreational
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham had her eye on legalization for years, but failed repeatedly. He did the same in 2021, due to Republican obstructionists in the legislature, but the governor convened a special legislative session on marijuana and the proposal was accepted with a thin margin. Recreational marijuana became legal on June 29, with restrictions imposed by Republicans on the amount it can have and a ban on public consumption of cannabis products. Retail sales will begin in April 2022.
Connecticut – Recreational
Gov. Ned Lamont personally invested in legalization and personally introduced bills for that purpose. While the road to success was difficult, the governor signed the full legalization of marijuana, along with social justice provisions. Possession became legal on July 1. Retail sales should start before the end of 2022.
Virginia – recreational
The Virginia legislature proved to be a model of efficiency with its legalization efforts: in April 2020, lawmakers decriminalized cannabis. In August of the same year, the first medical dispensary in the state was opened. In February 2021, lawmakers also legalized recreational cannabis. Without a single Republican lawmaker voting in favor of either House, the recreational bill had almost unanimous support among Democratic lawmakers.
Initially, legalization was due to take effect in 2024; but Governor Ralph Northam himself introduced amendments that changed the effective date to July 1, 2021, speeding up the calendar by three years. Unfortunately, retail sales can’t begin until lawmakers vote again, and in the meantime, Virginia voters have chosen Republican Glenn Youngkin as their new governor. The future of cannabis sales, and perhaps the legalization of cannabis itself, is now uncertain in Virginia.
