United States countries/us/index.yaml
It depends entirely on the state. In roughly half the states adults 21+ may carry a capped amount, typically 1 to 2.5 oz (28–70 g).[@norml,ncsl] In prohibition states the same amount can mean arrest and jail.[@norml] Under federal law, non-medical possession is still a Schedule I offence everywhere, with a first offence drawing up to a year and a minimum $1,000 fine.[@possession844] [The 1937 tax act first restricted cannabis federally.](/history/us-marihuana-tax-act-1937/) [Possession drew a year under the 1951 act.](/history/us-boggs-act-1951/)
Most legal states allow home growing, usually six plants per adult with a household cap, but several — including Washington, New Jersey and Illinois for non-patients — ban it.[@norml] In prohibition states growing a single plant can be a felony.[@norml] Federally, manufacturing 100 or more plants draws five to forty years; fewer plants draw lower federal bands.[@usc841] [The 1937 tax act first restricted cannabis federally.](/history/us-marihuana-tax-act-1937/) [The 1970 act scheduled cannabis.](/history/us-controlled-substances-act-1970/)
norml, usc841
Hundreds of thousands of cannabis arrests still happen every year, concentrated in prohibition states where possession can bring jail and sale or cultivation long felony sentences.[@norml] Federal trafficking penalties include mandatory minimums.[@usc841] [The 1970 act scheduled cannabis.](/history/us-controlled-substances-act-1970/)
norml, usc841
Legal states generally allow adults to give up to the possession limit (commonly one ounce) to another adult 21+ with no payment. Elsewhere any transfer counts as distribution.[@norml] [The 1970 act scheduled cannabis.](/history/us-controlled-substances-act-1970/)
State and local rules vary. Many states confine use to private property or licensed lounges.[@norml,ncsl] Connecticut, Rhode Island and Minnesota permit some outdoor public smoking, subject to tob … l property remains off-limits, and landlords or hotels can restrict smoking.[@norml,ncsl] [California allowed medical use in 1996.](/history/us-california-medical-1996/)
Legal states have licensed dispensaries, many with delivery, open to any adult 21+ including visitors, with per-transaction limits.[@ncsl,mm] Licence caps and local opt-outs leave large areas without shops, and nothing can cross state lines. About half the population has no legal adult-use store.[@ncsl] [Colorado and Washington legalised in 2012.](/history/us-colorado-washington-2012/)
States issue commercial licences, some uncapped (Oklahoma, Oregon), many tightly capped and very expensive.[@ml,ncsl] On 28 April 2026 a DEA rule moved FDA-approved and state-licensed medical cannabis to federal Schedule III.[@hh] Adult-use cannabis remains Schedule I, with punitive federal tax treatment and limited banking; a hearing on moving all cannabis to Schedule III ran from 29 June to 15 July 2026 and a decision is pending.[@hh] [The 2018 farm bill opened hemp federally.](/history/us-farm-bill-2018/)
The widest product range in the world in legal states: flower, edibles (typically capped a … ion of cannabinoids a cannabis plant cannot produce naturally stays on 12 November.[@crs] [Part of the new definition was delayed to December 2026.](/history/us-hemp-definition-delay-2026/)
40 states have medical programmes. Most require a doctor's certification for a listed condition, a state patient card and an annual fee.[@ncsl] Federal rescheduling of state-licensed medical cannabis in 2026 acknowledged medical use, but it is still not prescribed or insured like ordinary medicine.[@hh] Registered products reach patients through licensed dispensaries, with per-transaction limits; hemp-derived products sit outside the prescription route.[@ncsl] [California allowed medical use in 1996.](/history/us-california-medical-1996/) [Medical cannabis arrived federally in 2026.](/history/us-medical-schedule-iii-2026/)
Federal section 922(d)(3) prohibits firearm transfers to a person known or reasonably believed to be an unlawful controlled-substance user or addict.[@firearms922] On 18 June 2026, United States v. Hemani held that section 922(g)(3) could not constitutionally punish firearm possession based solely on his regular marijuana use.[@hemani2026] The narrow ruling left addiction, present intoxication and individual proof of danger unresolved; it did not decide purchases or transfers.[@hemani2026] Non-citizens can still face deportation or refusal of entry; federally assisted housing and employers may impose consequences.[@norml,ncsl] Expungement varies by state.[@ncsl] [The gun ruling narrowed 922(g)(3) in 2026.](/history/us-hemani-firearms-2026/)
The DEA said in letters of January and December 2022 that any seed, tissue culture or othe … controlled; once a seed grows into material above 0.3% it is marijuana under federal law.[@dea] The letters do not mention clones, and a lawyer writing on the first letter warns that keeping a clone counts as growing, which federally needs a hemp licence.[@kight] Whether a person may sow seeds or buy plants depends on state law.[@kight] [The 2018 farm bill opened hemp federally.](/history/us-farm-bill-2018/)
Legal states have not ended the illegal trade, and no national figure for its share was fo … st grow sites in states where cannabis is legal, producing flower averaging 25 to 30% THC.[@dea25] State studies give a sense of scale: one commissioned by Nevada in 2024 put unlicensed sal … dollars a year, and ranked Nevada second to California per head among four western states.[@unlv25] A Nevada policy report describes unlicensed delivery, pop-up sales parties and large outdoor farms on remote land.[@unlv25]
Police made at least 204,036 marijuana arrests in 2024 according to FBI data, 187,792 of them (92%) for possession and 16,244 for sale or manufacture.[@norml24] Possession of marijuana alone was more than 22% of the 831,446 drug arrests nationwide.[@norml24] The peak was 2007, with over 870,000 marijuana arrests, 48% of all drug arrests.[@norml24] The 2024 total is an undercount: some agencies do not report to the FBI, and tens of thousands of arrests are logged as unspecified drug violations.[@norml24]
Driving law is set by each state, and most have no THC-specific rule, so a conviction needs evidence of impairment.[@ghsa] The governors' highway safety association counts 18 states with stricter marijuana rules: ten with zero tolerance for THC or a metabolite, four with zero tolerance for THC alone and four with a fixed THC limit.[@ghsa] Colorado instead lets a jury infer impairment from 5 nanograms of THC.[@ghsa] The status shown is the majority rule, not the law everywhere.
In states with legal sales, dispensaries serve any adult aged 21 or over, visitors included; nothing may be carried across a state line.[@ncsl] For foreign visitors the danger is federal: marijuana remains a federal controlled substance, and immigration lawyers warn that conduct legal under state law can still bring severe immigration penalties.[@ilrc] Admitting to possession can get any non-citizen, even a permanent resident, refused at the border, and admitted use or work in the legal industry can block naturalisation.[@ilrc] [Colorado and Washington legalised in 2012.](/history/us-colorado-washington-2012/)
Non-profit growing clubs of the Spanish kind are not part of American law; what some states license instead are places to consume, usually run for profit.[@wikicsc] Colorado licenses two kinds of place, each depending on a local ordinance or resolution.[@cotax] A marijuana hospitality business may allow consumption, and section 44-10-609 forbids sale or exchange for payment on those premises.[@crs609] A retail marijuana hospitality and sales licence under section 44-10-610 allows marijuana to be sold and consumed on the same premises.[@crs610] Oregon does not license cannabis consumption lounges.[@oregon_icaa] Its indoor clean-air law also covers members-only businesses and private events at workplaces; private residences are treated separately.[@oregon_icaa] Nevada's Cannabis Compliance Board licenses consumption lounges under Assembly Bill 341 of 2021.[@nvreg] A retail lounge must be attached or immediately next to an adult-use shop.[@nvfaq] An independent lounge is not, and it sells single-use or ready-to-consume cannabis for use in the lounge.[@nvfaq] A city or county may limit or bar them.[@nvreg] A 2017 bill to license lounges missed its deadline.[@lvsun] A counsel opinion that September said a business could let patrons use marijuana if it was not sold, and that opinion was not a licensing statute.[@lvsun] Massachusetts approved three types of social-consumption licence in December 2025.[@macc] The District of Columbia went the other way and banned consumption clubs in 2016.[@mjbizdc] In most states there is no provision at all.[@wikicsc]
crs609, crs610, cotax, nvfaq, nvreg, lvsun, wikicsc, oregon_icaa, macc, mjbizdc
MassCannabisControl — CCC unanimously approves final social consumption regulations (December 2025) MJBizDaily — Washington DC permanently bans cannabis clubs (20 April 2016) Online Etymology Dictionary — Pot Online Etymology Dictionary — Reefer Online Etymology Dictionary — Grass Online Etymology Dictionary — Joint Online Etymology Dictionary — Dope Online Etymology Dictionary — Marijuana DLA Piper — New federal restrictions on hemp and hemp-derived products (18 November 2025) Library of Congress — Marihuana, Topics in Chronicling America Wikipedia — Hash Bash Wikipedia — Hempfest Wikipedia — Brownie Mary US Code — 21 USC 841(b)(1), penalties for manufacture 28 unchanged
USD
label First federal simple possession (21 USC 844(a)) · treatment criminal · prison 1 year · fine min 1000 · term First simple possession · note Minimum $1,000 fine; state bands vary from legal to jail, label Second federal simple possession · treatment criminal · prison 2 years · prison min 15 days · fine min 2500 · term Repeat simple possession · note Minimum $2,500 fine, label Third and later federal simple possession · treatment criminal · prison 3 years · prison min 90 days · fine min 5000 · term Repeat simple possession · note Minimum $5,000 fine
label Federal manufacture, 100 or more plants (21 USC 841(b)(1)(B)) · treatment criminal · prison 40 years · prison min 5 years · term Large-scale manufacture · note Five-year mandatory minimum; states add their own bands, label Federal manufacture, 50 to 99 plants · treatment criminal · prison 20 years · term Mid-scale manufacture · note Lower federal band; states add their own bands, label Federal manufacture, under 50 plants · treatment criminal · prison 5 years · term Small-scale manufacture · note Lower federal band; states add their own bands
word Pot · lang American English · meaning slang recorded 1938; origin disputed · atlas pot · sources etympot, word Reefer · lang American English · meaning jazz-age word for a cannabis cigarette · atlas reefer · sources etymreefer, word Grass · lang American English · meaning slang recorded by 1932 · atlas grass · sources etymgrass, word Joint · lang American English · meaning a hand-rolled cannabis cigarette · atlas joint · sources etymjoint, word Dope · lang American English · meaning from Dutch doop; never cannabis alone · atlas dope · sources etymdope, word Marijuana · lang Mexican Spanish · meaning the law's word since the 1930s · atlas marijuana · sources etymmarj
Two systems in one country. Roughly half the states let adults 21+ buy capped amounts from licensed stores for any use; the rest punish possession with arrest and jail.[@norml,ncsl] Federally, non-medical cannabis stays Schedule I even where states allow it.[@hh] [Colorado and Washington legalised in 2012.](/history/us-colorado-washington-2012/) [The 2018 farm bill opened hemp federally.](/history/us-farm-bill-2018/)
norml, ncsl, hh
standard
The 2018 farm bill took cannabis with up to 0.3% delta-9 THC out of the Controlled Substances Act, which opened a national market in hemp-derived intoxicating products such as delta-8.[@dlapiper25] [The 2018 farm bill opened hemp federally.](/history/us-farm-bill-2018/) [A federal appeals court treated delta-8 as lawful hemp in 2022.](/history/us-delta-8-appeals-ruling-2022/) Congress closed that loophole in November 2025: from late 2026 hemp means no more than 0.3% total THC counting THCA, excludes cannabinoids the plant cannot make itself (such as CBD-converted delta-8), and caps finished products at 0.4 mg total THC per container; fibre, seed oil and other non-cannabinoid uses stay legal.[@dlapiper25,crshemp] [Congress closed the hemp loophole in 2025.](/history/us-hemp-thc-limit-enacted-2025/) [Part of the new definition was delayed to December 2026.](/history/us-hemp-definition-delay-2026/)
dlapiper25, crshemp
Cannabis grew up in American public life. In 1930s Harlem, tea pads — rooms where jazz musicians and fans smoked — made "tea" and "reefer" jazz-age words.[@lochr] [Harlem's tea pads shaped jazz-era smoking.](/culture/traditions/the-tea-pads-of-harlem/) Protest followed prohibition: Ann Arbor's Hash Bash has run since 1972 and Seattle's Hempfest since 1991.[@wikihash,wikihempfest] [Hash Bash began in 1972.](/culture/traditions/hash-bash/) [Hempfest has run in Seattle since 1991.](/culture/traditions/hempfest/) San Francisco's medical movement — Brownie Mary handing out brownies on AIDS wards alongside activist Dennis Peron — carried California to the first medical law in 1996.[@wikibrownie] [Brownie Mary and Dennis Peron drove Proposition 215.](/culture/people/dennis-peron/)
lochr, wikihash, wikihempfest, wikibrownie