Is marijuana legal?
In a sane world, that question would be easy to answer. Currently, any attempt to answer it exposes the confusing and contradictory state of American jurisprudence.
The short answer is that it is legal in some states but illegal in the United States.
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That simple phrase may be accurate, but it is woefully incomplete. Neither the states nor the federal government speaks with a consistent voice. Widespread confusion on the topic dominates the issue, and as usual, confusion favors the left.
Changing Federal Standards
In 1970, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) listed marijuana as a Schedule I drug, branding it as having “no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.” Immediately, that classification was disputed. At first, users asserted that it was no more addictive than alcohol. That argument changed relatively few minds.
During the early nineties, proponents of marijuana legalization changed tactics, promoting the phrase “medical marijuana.” At roughly the same time, much of the press substituted the word marijuana with the less familiar term, cannabis. These strategies triggered an avalanche of popular support. Many states acted to “legalize” the substance. Nonetheless, it remained illegal under federal law. “Dispensaries” opened in big cities and small towns to meet the pseudo-patients’ “needs.”
On May 16, 2024, Attorney General Merrick Garland reclassified marijuana. His order moved marijuana to schedule III, classifying it as a drug “with a moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence.” Marijuana left the company of drugs like LSD and assumed the status of Tylenol with codeine. The Attorney General’s press release revealed no scientific rationale behind the reclassification.
The Politics of Legalization
Amid the 2024 presidential campaign, the Associated Press (AP) reported that “Donald Trump has signaled support for a potentially historic federal policy shift to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug, putting his position in line with that of his Democratic opponent, Kamala Harris.”
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San Jose, California’s Mercury News crowed, “This is a huge deal because it marks a major step toward federal legalization of cannabis and could have a big impact on the industry in the next few years.”
Disturbing voices soon arose. On June 11, 2025, Bloomberg reported that “A Harvard addiction scientist and a former government lawyer are urging the US Department of Justice to reject a plan that would ease federal restrictions on cannabis.” The study’s authors argue that “the Biden administration’s push to reclassify cannabis relied on flawed reasoning and downplayed health risks, including cannabis-use disorder and links to psychosis.”
Thus, the federal situation remains cloudy, and that condition seems unlikely to subside anytime soon. However, the states are all over the place. Some resolutely resist legalization, some cautiously embrace it, and others greet it with the fervor of university students anticipating next summer’s protest season.
The State of the States
DISA is a consulting firm specializing in assisting companies to meet the myriad sets of state regulations. They divide the states into three camps. Twenty-four states plus the District of Columbia are in the “Fully Legal” category, meaning that both medicinal and recreational uses are approved. In six states, marijuana is “Fully Illegal.” Twenty states are in a special category called “Mixed.” This last category is the most varied. In seven, the only permitted medical use is CBD oil. In three of the Mixed states, recreational marijuana remains illegal but has been “decriminalized.” Perhaps the only universal rule is that there are no universal rules.
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Another complication is that the categorization process is endlessly fluid. DISA compiled its current list on April 28, 2025, but any state could render it obsolete by changing its rules, which many seem likely to do soon.
Even in the Fully Legal states, the atmosphere and motivations differ. Some states legalized to cut the costs of incarcerating people for crimes that increasing numbers see as equivalent to traffic tickets. Others obeyed libertarian instincts. In certain places, the voters overruled their legislatures through a referendum. A few state legislatures embraced legalization with gusto.
A recent article in the Wall Street Journal looked at a few of those states, some of which zealously promote marijuana use for a variety of reasons. The WSJ’s facts are eye-popping.
California and New York
It would be no surprise to many readers that New York and California do the most to stimulate marijuana sales and use.
California sees regulation as its biggest problem. Their primary goal is promoting “legal” (tax-paying) growers and shops. In 2022, the Los Angeles Times reportedly counted five thousand illegal growers in the state. Each represents lost revenue. The Golden State’s solution beggars the imagination. In 2021, they “dedicated $100 million to buttress struggling legal marijuana businesses.” Later, “Sacramento anted up another $20 million to finance retail outlets in ‘underserved areas.’” Yes, the state actually subsidizes new shops in places where entrepreneurs have declined to go. The WSJ, however, saw a unique roadblock. Over half (fifty-eight percent) of California municipalities forbid marijuana outlets within their city limits.
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In a similar situation, New York City employed a “carrot and stick” strategy. The stick consists of padlocks placed on over 700 illegal shops. The carrot is eight million taxpayer dollars to finance new, fully licensed stores. However, the carrot isn’t for everyone. To qualify, the prospective owners must be “minority entrepreneurs.” The state conceives that marijuana marketing can be a route to the “great promise of progress towards social and economic equity.” The Empire State’s bureaucrats also allocated five million dollars to “train community-college students how to grow, market and retail pot.”
According to the WSJ, Maryland, Massachusetts and Illinois have also borrowed some of these ideas.
Ballot Issues
If statewide elections are any indication, a solid contingent of Americans—even if they don’t use the stuff—want legalized marijuana. According to Ballotpedia, there have been thirty-two statewide votes on legalizing recreational marijuana since 1972. The raw score is 50-50—sixteen votes passed, and the same number failed. However, the picture is more complicated. All of the measures before 2012 failed, but voters reversed each later. California’s pro-pot contingent failed twice (1972 and 2010) before succeeding in 2016. Oregon defeated it in 1986 but approved it in 2014. Arizona voters said no in 2002 and 2016 but yes, in 2020. Alaska voted against it in 2004 but approved it ten years later. Nevada said no in 2006, but reversed itself in 2016.
The simple fact is that the marijuana legalization forces never take “no” for an answer.
On the other hand, all three states that considered recreational use in 2024 defeated the idea. Both Dakotas defeated such measures in 2024 by roughly the same margins that they refused to legalize in 2022. The most watched marijuana ballot issue was in Florida. There, legalization lost despite fifty-six percent favoring it. Florida requires a sixty percent approval on measures affecting the State Constitution. However, all three states were close enough that proponents will, doubtless, try again.
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This discouraging trend occurs even though the arguments against legalization are sound. Marijuana harms both individuals and society. By its very nature, it promotes indolence and immorality. Like drunkenness, it is immoral because it temporarily disables the mind and body and causes residual damage.
Is Confusion the Goal?
Indeed, the confusion over marijuana policy may be more damaging than the policies themselves. Clear, understandable and workable rules—even if they seem overly restrictive—are always preferable to unfathomable ones whose uncertainties cause constant dispute. For society to function, people must know and understand the limits under which they live. They must know that clear and consistent penalties await those who transcend those limits. That sort of knowledge is essential for success in any sphere of life.
Of course, “pushing the envelope” carries a charge of excitement and rebellion among those with decayed morals. The left uses that sensation to convince these people to oppose all limits and take action against those who make and enforce them.
When the established limits are exceeded without immediate consequences, they become increasingly porous and eventually collapse into chaos. That collapse suits the left, allowing them to impose their ideologies on the general population.
The nation’s marijuana laws followed just such a progression. It has not yet reached the last step, but the current chaos shows that Western society is swiftly moving in that direction.
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