While marijuana remains illegal at the federal level per the 1970 Controlled Substances Act (CSA), the US has become a patchwork of state-determined laws pertaining to the drug. Some states have legalized recreational marijuana, others allow medicinal use and/or CBD oil. A few states have decriminalized the plant, and a handful follow the federal guidelines.
What does marijuana legalization mean?
In the United States, marijuana legalization refers to the process of making marijuana use, possession, and sales legal under certain conditions. Adults in states that legalize the drug can use it for both medical and recreational purposes, following state laws.
Legalization allows for regulated sales of products that contain cannabidiol (CBD) and delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Medical cannabis laws also fall under this category, permitting patients with conditions such as chronic pain, multiple sclerosis, insomnia, and depression to use the substances for treatment.
Since marijuana remains federally classified as an illegal drug, state legalization has many implications on federal income taxes filed by dispensaries, as well as the cross-border sale and transportation of cannabis products.
Which states have legalized marijuana?
State cannabis legalization can be defined several ways, ranging from fully illegal to legal for both medicinal and recreational use. For this article, USAFacts defined four legalization levels to help explain how they vary by state: recreational, medical, CBD only, and fully illegal.
Recreational
States that have legalized recreational marijuana have guaranteed adults 21 and older the right to use cannabis products for personal enjoyment rather than for strictly health benefits.
As of March 2025, 24 states and Washington, DC, have legalized recreational marijuana. Ohio was the latest state to legalize recreational marijuana, when voters approved Issue 2 in the November 2023 election.
The marijuana legalization use does not always mean it’s legal to purchase. For example, it is illegal to buy marijuana in Washington, DC, but it’s legal for anyone 21 and older to possess up to two ounces of it, grow up to six marijuana plants in the district (with up to three in the mature flowering stage), and gift up to an ounce of marijuana to anyone 21 years or older — as long as no sales or trades occur.
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Medical
Legalizing medical marijuana means the state has established a medical framework that allows doctors to recommend marijuana for a wide range of conditions, including pain, nausea, depression, anxiety, and PTSD. States determine the medical conditions for which physicians can prescribe cannabis and cannabinoids.
As of March 2025, 39 states and Washington, DC, have legalized medical marijuana.
However, there’s a caveat to this category. Some states have only legalized medical marijuana with the CBD compound while retaining laws that prevent the distribution of high-THC medical cannabis.
CBD only
Six states have limited medical marijuana to include only CBD products as of March 2025. Legalized medical marijuana primarily includes CBD compounds rather than THC compounds, though these products can still have low-THC levels. Unlike THC, CBD is not psychoactive. CBD products may include lotions, oils, sprays, gummies, and food products.
Fully illegal
As of March 2025, marijuana is still illegal in five states and people cannot obtain medical or recreational cannabis in any form.
These states have raised legislative measures in recent years to either begin medical or recreational legalization – for example, Idaho’s House Bill 370, Wyoming’s House Bill 143, or North Carolina’s House Bill 413, to name a few.
How do federal drug laws impact states?
Despite many states loosening marijuana laws, the federal government has yet to legalize the drug. Under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), federal law continues to prohibit cannabis sale and use; marijuana remains classified as a Schedule I drug with a high potential for abuse and no accepted medical use. Therefore, even where marijuana has been legalized for recreational use, state laws conflict with federal laws.
Marijuana retail businesses, therefore, must remain in jurisdictions where marijuana is legal. The marijuana that a business sells must be grown, sold, used, and taxed within state lines — without using any federal land or means of commerce. This presents several complications, including preventing cannabis businesses from using banks (which are federally regulated), deducting business expenses on their federal income taxes (which other businesses are allowed to do), and preventing farmers from using water from federally managed resources.
Several recent proposals would remove marijuana from CSA control. For instance, the MORE Act would remove marijuana and THC from the CSA and require expungement of past convictions for many federal marijuana offenses.
Among other things, it would also remove some collateral consequences for marijuana-related activities, impose a 5% tax on cannabis products, and use revenues from the tax to fund grant programs for "certain persons adversely impacted by the War on Drugs.” The MORE Act passed the House in April 2022, but was stalled in the Senate.
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Page sources and methodology
All of the data on the page was sourced directly from government agencies. The analysis and final review was performed by USAFacts.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Marijuana and Public Health
US Drug Enforcement Agency
The Controlled Substances Act
