Talk:Cannabis in the United States

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This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 12 December 2018 and 20 February 2019. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Trgeorge6.

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United States federal government position on medical marijuana
I believe the following summarizing sentence in the beginning is out of date:

The use and possession of cannabis (marijuana) in the United States is illegal under federal law, and under most state law, however some states have created narrow exemptions for medical marijuana. Despite these exemptions, under federal law, possession, sale, and use remain illegal.

I propose to change it to this:

The use, sale and possession of cannabis (marijuana) in the United States is illegal under federal law. However, some states have created exemptions for medical marijuana use. In February 2009, the Obama Administration announced that the United States federal government had changed its position on medical marijuana and would now "allow states to make their own rules on medical marijuana without interference by the federal government."

Here's the citation if you think we need one:

-Youreakitty (talk) 02:09, 12 March 2009 (UTC)

Ok, I'm going to do it since no one has objected in over a week, I've kept the old wording here if there needs to be further discussion. Youreakitty (talk) 15:57, 19 March 2009 (UTC)

Founding fathers
The section on founding fathers who cultivated cannabis seems pretty irrelevant. They grew it, but for hemp fabrics and paper. This article is about cannabis as a drug, and there is no evidence presented in that section that the FFs mentioned would support or oppose any stance on marijuana laws. I'm going to remove the section. Jomasecu talk contribs 23:53, 24 January 2009 (UTC)

Pathetic Editing
First of all, I cannot believe this page was using vulgar colloquialisms such as "drug czar" as if that's an official title, and not something simply made up by conservative media outlets to draw parallels to Communist Russia. Please do some fact-checking first. Also, for MONTHS this page has said Obama "has 'clarified' his position" on marijuana, but still there was no indication of WHAT his position was. All that was up here was that he "clarified it." Additionally, the one quote we had up was just a joke he made. Yeah, it's funny, and I find it funny, but it's not relevant. He actually did elaborate afterward, and that's clearly in the story if anybody had bothered to read it. Perhaps everyone is too high.

From now on, please check sources on this page. I know wikipedia is imperfect, but this is a hot political issue right now, and you know people are going to come here looking for information. Let's try to make this page decent.

--Rob Shepard (talk) 06:53, 1 February 2010 (UTC)

It's incorrect to suggest that drug czar was made up by conservative media outlets. There are other "czars" in government and it's not a pejorative term.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czar_(political_term)#Development_of_term

--kay — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.40.215.30 (talk) 08:43, 18 November 2012 (UTC)

New Hampshire House Bill 1526 Decriminalizes less than one half-ounce of marijuana
http://e-lobbyist.com/gaits/text/507434

Thusly, the map showing the U.S. cannabis laws should be changed accordingly: New Hampshire should be changed from gray to the vomit green. 70.90.212.91 (talk) 08:40, 14 March 2012 (UTC)

RE: New Hampshire
As far as I can tell, the NH bill was vetoed and it is still not decriminalized. I did update the map to include CT's new laws, though. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Lobstrosity22 (talk • contribs) 19:58, 24 September 2012 (UTC)

Usage--Poll number needs to be erased and updated
This poll, "In 2009, according to a Zogby poll and an ABC News/Washington Post poll, between 46% and 56% of US voters would support legalization[12]" is very old. It is now 2012 and new data has shown more definitave numbers. This needs to be updated. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.220.240.104 (talk) 13:56, 10 June 2012 (UTC)

Connecticut should be updated on the map
Medical marijuana was approved in CT as well as it already being decriminalized. Governor Malloy signed the bill back in late May http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/01/us-usa-marijuana-connecticut-idUSBRE85018X20120601 TheMadcapSyd (talk) 20:08, 20 July 2012 (UTC)

Maryland must be on the map
O'Malley signed a bill legalizing medical marijuana and decriminalizing small amounts. http://www.marylandjuice.com/2013/03/maryland-senate-votes-to-decriminalize.html 129.2.129.230 (talk) 17:47, 20 April 2013 (UTC)
 * while decriminalization the bill passed the senate, it died in the house. They did however pass the most restrictive medical marijuana laws in the country Δρ∈rs∈ghiη (talk) 18:21, 14 May 2013 (UTC)

Legal US medical cannabis
Good luck! Since late XIXth century, beginning XXth... A reference: http://books.google.ch/books/about/From_Chocolate_to_Morphine.html?id=p6zyPxi4PYoC

— Preceding unsigned comment added by 144.85.145.152 (talk) 03:46, 18 July 1999 (UTC)

Poor map colouring
Now the key is wrong.
 * Fixed. Gabriel Kielland (talk) 06:47, 17 June 2014 (UTC)

Can someone please change the colouring of the states on the map? I know that it's amusing to use shades of green for marijuana, but it's hard to see; I have partial colourblindness which makes it all the worse. Completely different colours would be much more preferable and accessible. 58.96.39.78 (talk) 12:13, 24 September 2013 (UTC)
 * Marking as "resolved" (I assume, since the colors have since changed). -- Another Believer ( Talk ) 14:57, 7 May 2014 (UTC)

Same issue as flagged in 2013. Can someone please change the colouring on the map? Very hard to understand... Thanks! 80.169.164.5 (talk) 10:47, 10 November 2016 (UTC)

Medicinal Cannabis Legalization in Missouri
I feel as if there should be an insertion of states which are going through the process of trying to legalize medicinal cannabis or cannabis for recreational purposes. This will keep readers of Wikipedia up to date on the issue which has been a longstanding struggle in the United States. Missouri is pushing for legalization for multiple reasons one of which is of course is revenue gained by legalization. If this is inserted this means we will need to find a new map for the page as well as add in the arguments on both sides to keep neutral as Wikipedia articles should be--seeing as its not legalized and there is opposition.Neweditingexpert7422 (talk) 16:04, 6 May 2014 (UTC)

Florida
A constitutional amendment sponsored by People United for Medical Marijuana obtained 745,613 signatures by Jan. 24, 2014 (683,149 were required by Feb. 1). The Supreme Court in Florida ruled 4-3 in favor of allowing the initiative to be decided by voters in the November election, which was decided on January 27, 2014. The House Bill and the Senate bill for the legalization of medical marijuana is called the "Cathy Jordan Medical Cannabis Act" which received its first read on March 4, 2014 and states: "requiring the Department of Business and Professional Regulation to regulate the manufacture, cultivation, possession, wholesale distribution, dispensing, purchase, delivery, and sale of cannabis for medical use and the manufacture, possession, purchase, sale, use, and delivery of drug paraphernalia; providing that the department is responsible for the licensure and permitting of dispensaries and medical cannabis farms and the registration of owners, directors, officers, members, incorporators, employees, and agents of such farms and dispensaries, etc." Neweditingexpert7422 (talk) 14:38, 7 May 2014 (UTC)

Florida state government has approved a bill that legalizes a strain of non smokable marijuana for a few diseases.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/06/16/us-usa-florida-marijuana-idUSKBN0ER2GM20140616

http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/06/16/4182407/scott-signs-medical-marijuana.html

Is this considered enough for Florida so that it is colored on the map as a medical marijuana state? — Preceding unsigned comment added by GrandDandy (talk • contribs) 04:13, 8 July 2014 (UTC)

Iowa
Iowa has bills going through the senate and house which would not legalize marijuana rather it would legalize cannabidiol, one of the 400+ ingredients in marijuana with a written prescription from a certified doctor. This measure is too pending however keeping this cite more relevant can help readers understand the debates going on about cannabis in every state in America. Neweditingexpert7422 (talk) 15:20, 7 May 2014 (UTC)

Mississippi
I am going to add a section on Mississippi because it was recently passed and signed by the governor in April.Neweditingexpert7422 (talk) 15:43, 7 May 2014 (UTC)

North Carolina
I am going to add a section on North Carolina because there is no information on the article as it stands about the state.Neweditingexpert7422 (talk) 19:58, 7 May 2014 (UTC)

Minnesota
Minnesota has recently passed medical marijuana laws. These laws do not take effect until mid 2015. Should the map be updated now, or next year? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Schwarzy1 (talk • contribs) 02:08, 18 May 2014 (UTC)

New Jersey and Philadelphia
This list seems to be woefully incomplete.

http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/philly420/Why_NJs_medical_marijuana_program_has_gone_to_pot.html

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/P/PA_PHILADELPHIA_MARIJUANA_PAOL-?SITE=PASTR&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

71.175.196.166 (talk) 14:52, 20 June 2014 (UTC)

Michigan
Laws are way more progressive than shown here. There is decriminalization in most cities in the state. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.180.252.194 (talk) 15:10, 1 September 2014 (UTC)

Alaska & Oregon
Someone needs to update the map and turn Oregon and Alaska green due to their recreational legalization election results last night. Please & thank you! VisaBlack (talk) 13:07, 5 November 2014 (UTC)

Puerto Rico
Medical legal. See below:

http://time.com/3845638/puerto-rico-medical-marijuana/ — Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.252.223.88 (talk) 01:31, 5 May 2015 (UTC)

What's up doc ?
I have seen what kind of cannabis americans are smoking. Poor americans ! So the US government want to reduce the US population ? Please, forget your killing medicinal cannabis full of toxines and may I ask you that you demand to your closest criminal organisation to produce real american hashish ? Please ! Do this for your country, not for your government. Also, I suggest that you find a real doctor, not a nazi doctor. All the best ! Regards ! N.B.: My girlfriend is dutch. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 188.61.206.101 (talk) 23:45, 7 July 2015 (UTC)

Where is Hawaii??
A state with one of the most progressive marijuana laws in the country doesn't have its own section? Does anyone know why? Should I write it? Oneultralamewhiteboy (talk) 23:33, 6 April 2016 (UTC)

Ohio
Ohio legalized medical cannabis. http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2016/05/medical_marijuana_bill_clears.html — Preceding unsigned comment added by 131.123.61.4 (talk) 21:53, 10 May 2016 (UTC)

The States in the article... vs. the States in the map
The map shows 52. The article discusses 22. Now, even excluding those in which it is still prohibited, a sligt anomaly? New York,say? Muffled Pocketed  19:18, 7 July 2016 (UTC)

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Proposing bold changes at Cannabis in the United States
I'm proposing some sweeping changes on this article, so I've gone to message everyone editing here in the last year or so to ask them to weigh in.


 * In brief, I propose that we tighten the focus of this article to being about the United States overall and move any content specifically about an individual state to that state's own page. We can use this page to cover overall legal/social/cultural trends, and have a section at the end with a link to all the individual states (and shortly every single state will have a page, I've nearly finished that).

My argument against the status quo is that this increases the number of pages which can easily fall out of currency and become outdated, we're best off keeping the individual state pages up-to-date, and the full chart at Legality of cannabis by U.S. jurisdiction (which is the single most-popular page for cannabis in the US. The page Legal history of cannabis in the United States is excellent and covers a ton of content in-detail, so for this page I think we have a ton of room to explore the cultural issues, how cannabis started catching on, its use in marginalized parts of society, its larger popularity starting in the 1960s, the pushback of the Reagan years, and then the current momentum into greater public acceptance. Though not perfect, check out Cannabis in Australia for a really thorough article with a ton of background.

Is anybody grievously against my primary proposed change, that we move state-specific content to the existing state-specific articles rather than have them be the bulk of Cannabis in the United States? Goonsquad LCpl Mulvaney (talk) 21:39, 14 November 2016 (UTC)
 * I agree to the proposal and to focus on more of a national level page and leave the state details on the individual state pages.Whoisjohngalt (talk) 21:58, 14 November 2016 (UTC)


 * This is a big change, but it is similar to how the Gun Law articles are organized. I like your plan. This article will need a link to each state's article.--Frmorrison (talk) 22:03, 14 November 2016 (UTC)


 * I went ahead and gave it a shot, remove the sections specific to states and instead placed a list of all states/territories. I'm figuring that if anyone is really displeased we can just revert, took me less than an hour to do. I did check each individual section to make sure we weren't deleting anything we don't have elsewhere, but a lot of it was recycled content. Also, several sections were several years out of date, so yet more reason to keep to a minimum the number of pages we have to update when one of fifty states changes its laws. Goonsquad LCpl Mulvaney (talk) 23:43, 14 November 2016 (UTC)


 * I think it's an improvement and results in an article that reads much cleaner, thanks! Fishal (talk) 00:37, 15 November 2016 (UTC)

I've been waiting for years for someone to tackle forking content to state-specific articles. Thank you for taking this on, and I hope people will be more inclined to improve U.S. cannabis articles now that they are a bit more organized and manageable. --- Another Believer ( Talk ) 00:42, 15 November 2016 (UTC)
 * Yes go for it!--Moxy (talk) 01:16, 15 November 2016 (UTC)

Makes perfect sense, I can already see that this is a good format that makes it easy to share/organize content. Some of your edits, are really good and in a positive direction as well. And the forking will definitely make it easier to add/edit changes as and when required to specific jurisdictions. This is an brilliant idea. Let me take this opportunity to applaud your efforts, and pledge my support. You make Wikipedia and the interest of people like me in it, better. If you have some specific areas you need someone to edit/add content, please let me know. I can help. Cheers, mate. Tejas Ramakrishnan (talk) 04:52, 11 February 2017 (UTC)

Outdated graphic
The "Number of Arrests by Drug Type" chart is 10 years out of date. It should be replaced if possible. Dar-Ape 17:22, 18 June 2017 (UTC)

Wikipedia Ambassador Program course assignment
This article is the subject of an educational assignment at Georgia Gwinnett College supported by Investigations of Federal Law and the Wikipedia Ambassador Program&#32;during the 2011 Q3 term. Further details are available on the course page.

The above message was substituted from by PrimeBOT (talk) on 16:24, 2 January 2023 (UTC)

South Carolina
South Carolinas information is out of date 2600:1700:959C:120:4264:E1F0:428B:99E4 (talk) 03:52, 18 October 2023 (UTC)

[Potential] Schedule change
I've added a single sentence (probably all the article should have until things move forwards or more analysis appears) about the annoucement today of plans to move Cannabis to Schedule III. I don't think we should say more than that until something happens; alternatively, if nothing comes of it, we should probably delete it outright. Also mentioning this at Legality of cannabis by U.S. jurisdiction. Adam Cuerden (talk)Has about 8.9% of all FPs. 20:59, 1 May 2024 (UTC)
 * I don't think it's necessary to be overly cautious on this, either from a practical perspective, or a follow-the-sources perspective. I've been following this for a while and think the Administrative Procedure Act requirements are mostly checking the boxes from here forward, since the DEA decision has been made, and (obviously) has the President's backing. ☆ Bri (talk) 00:38, 2 May 2024 (UTC)