Why isnt pot legal

This point alone almost guarantees its legalization. They will use this money for a series of efforts, including drug and alcohol prevention and training. As you might know, the federal government still considers marijuana to be a Schedule 1 highly addictive drug.

Whatever the federal government is considering, Justice Thomas might have given us a brief look into the window of the Supreme Court. While the Supreme Court does not create laws, they will occasionally determine the constitutionality of laws that make it to their court. It is certainly not a secret that the Supreme Court attempts to avoid difficult and highly controversial topics if they are able to do so.

No single person or small body of judges wants to appear to be dictating laws for the nation. That said, the recent comments and the use of the word piecemeal certainly lead me to believe that the Supreme Court is asking the federal government to figure out what side of the marijuana issue they want to be on.

The federal government cannot continue to say marijuana is illegal while taking no action against the wide-scale marijuana manufacturing and distribution that has recently occurred across the country. Considering that no fewer than 38 states have legalized marijuana in some capacity, it should be easy to determine what side of the issue the federal government will likely end up on, but what is taking so long?

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By Anthony Kuhn, Esq. Saturday, Jul More In Commentary. Congress has a chance to deliver for vets this Veterans Day Building a Global War on Terror Memorial now means it will be standing for our veterans and Gold Star families during their lifetimes. Some veterans struggling following Afghan collapse While I returned home in July , Afghanistan did not leave me. In Other News. Congress looks to improve military vehicle safety Michael McDowell, an advocate for increased training safety in the military, said he has worked with Congress to get six amendments added to the National Defense Authorization Act to improve training safety and hopefully save lives.

Legal possession of up to three ounces is effective immediately, with home growing also legalized for up to six plants. Backs patted. One small glimmer of hope: A new senate bill to create a legal and medical cannabis program was introduced this spring. In May , North Dakota became the 25th state to decriminalize possession in small amounts. You can now carry up to. Sale of any amount is a felony, as is possession of any amount within 1, feet of a school.

Activists are gearing up to place a legalization initiative on the ballot for The state had already decriminalized weed in amounts up to grams about 3. Oklahoma was already in our residual good graces because they built a boat district with a dope whitewater rafting course in the middle of their capital city, but in late they unveiled a medicinal cannabis program that's among the most liberal in the country. There's no restrictive list of qualifying medical conditions, which has allowed more than , patients to enroll.

And unlike a lot of other states where commercial rollout can stay stuck in limbo for months or years after a ballot measure is approved, Oklahoma hit the ground running, with hundreds of dispensaries springing up across the state almost overnight.

No luck on decriminalization so far though, with the governor vetoing a weed policy reform bill in and a legalization ballot initiative deemed invalid by the state Supreme Court. Green thumbs can grow up to four plants at home without risking any fine or penalty; for registered medicinal users, those numbers jump to 24 ounces and up to six plants, plus 18 seedlings.

Which is why even prescription holders tend to resort to less legal methods to get bud in Pennsylvania. Legalization bills have so far failed to make it past the House, but hope is on the horizon with a bipartisan legalization bill recently introduced in the legislature and the governor voicing support. Sales and cultivation still carry felony charges. All sales are felonies, all forms of cultivation are felonies… you get the idea. South Dakota is one of the most underrated states in some respects, and definitely the more underrated Dakota.

L ast November, voters approved a legalization measure that would have set up both recreational and medical programs; unfortunately, the recreational portion was struck down as unconstitutional.

An appeal to the state Supreme Court appears likely. While supporters are rightfully keeping their eyes on the prize, getting a medical program passed in a red state like South Dakota is no small feat. Tennessee is decidedly unchill.

Despite many efforts in to loosen the laws, including a Republican-backed medical cannabis bill, opposed lawmakers are doing their damndest to delay progress.

The state does allow for some hemp and CBD. Texas produced Willie Nelson, and so far that is the extent of its legacy in terms of normalizing weed usage. Recreational use remains illegal in Utah, but medical cannabis is available to patients with qualifying conditions. And all because you wanted to get weird at Arches. That meant residents had to grow their own supply or sneak over state lines. But after three years, the state has finally allowed for licensed retail cannabis stores to open no later than May 1, In other good news, a bill to automatically expunge all cannabis possession offenses took effect on January 1st of this year.

In February , Virginia became the first state in the Old South to legalize weed. A genteel nod of approval to you, Virginia. Weed is legal in DC , but selling it is still prohibited. This has resulted in companies like HighSpeed and Joint Delivery selling T-shirts and posters and giving weed away as a gift with purchase. Things might change soon, though: A new bill called the Safe Cannabis Sales Act of , if passed, would get cannabis retailers up and running by October Washington tied for first alongside Colorado to legalize recreational grass back in After nearly a decade, the governor said his only regret was not doing it sooner.

These days there are loads of dispensaries you can choose from—plus, more than half of that sweet tax revenue goes to public health programs.

Medical cannabis became legal in , but it has taken for-ev-er for the program to actually materialize due to a lack of funding and various other hurdles. In February, the Office of Medical Cannabis finally began allowing patients to register.

As for the legalization of recreational weed, Governor Jim Justice is not opposed. Weed remains very illegal in the Badger State, despite having pro-cannabis leadership and a recently-released budget plan calling for the legalization of both medical and recreational cannabis in the state.

Likelihood of it passing through the GOP-controlled legislature? P slim. Bummer, considering weed laws in Wyoming are some of the harshest in the US. Luckily Yellowstone is weird and wonderful enough to blow your mind all on its own. Skip to main content Illustration by Grace Han for Thrillist. Hey you! This article also comes in a fancy map version.

Go check it out right here. Click to see it on the map. Alabama: Illegal. Alaska: Recreational. Arizona: Recreational. Arkansas: Medicinal. California: Recreational. Colorado: Recreational. Connecticut: Medicinal and Decriminalized. Delaware: Medicinal and Decriminalized. Florida: Medicinal. Georgia: Illegal. Hawaii: Medicinal and Decriminalized. Idaho: Illegal. Illinois: Recreational. Indiana: Illegal. According to this section of the tax code, cannabis businesses are disallowed from taxing any normal corporate operating deductions, save for cost of goods sold.

In other words, the federal government is generating icing on the cake by being able to tax profitable cannabis companies in the U. If marijuana were suddenly legalized, pot businesses would be able to take corporate deductions available to so-called "normal" companies. According to Gallup's Oct.

However, there's a pretty gap in favorability between America's leading parties. That's a problem considering that Republicans currently control the Oval Office and the Senate. While it's undeniable that there's been a softening in the GOP's dislike of marijuana over the past decade, there's also a very clear divide on Capitol Hill between Democrats and Republicans on what the future should look like for the legal pot industry.

Although it's easy to overlook, a third reason marijuana hasn't been legalized in the U. It's not just that Republicans have been historically more averse to marijuana than Democrats or independents.

As Senate majority leader, McConnell has some pretty big say over what bills make it to the Senate floor for vote. In pretty much each and every instance where a marijuana industry reform rider was motioned to be attached to a larger bill, McConnell denied the move.

For example, last December, McConnell denied efforts by Sen. Cory Garder R-Colo. The States Act would have protected individual states' rights from the possibility of federal intervention.

Put simply, as long as McConnell is Senate majority leader, cannabis reform riders and standalone bills are probably dead in the water. Another very real problem cannabis enthusiasts need to come to terms with is that marijuana isn't an important issue on Capitol Hill, even though the industry could create jobs and lead to a notable economic trickle-down impact. Right now, lawmakers are focused on things like coming up with a trade deal with China, crafting a federal budget that works, and creating a better health plan for the American public.

Cannabis reform, while popular among the public, just isn't that high on the list for lawmakers in Washington, D. What's more, surveys from Quinnipiac University have also shown that marijuana isn't a polarizing issue , as of yet.

More specifically, just one out of eight voters would switch their vote if their preferred candidate didn't have a cannabis view that aligned with their own. This suggests that politicians can maintain an unpopular view on pot without fear of losing their elected seat in Congress.

Lastly, there are pretty obvious concerns about the long-term safety of marijuana use among lawmakers in Washington. On one hand, cannabis overdoses led to exactly zero deaths in By comparison, opioid-related overdoses are killing more than 47, people a year.