States Where Cannabis Flower Is Legal
Last updated on Oct 7, 2024
Created on Jul 28, 2021
Article written by
Dipak HemrajMedical Cannabis Researcher
Content reviewed by
Ruth LemonChief of Staff
Cannabis flower is one of the most popular forms of cannabis consumption for both medical and recreational users. While there are several reasons for this, such as the versatility of flower itself, the ability to home-grow your own flower in states like Alaska, California, and Colorado, and the ease of dosage, the key likely still lies in the popularity of smoking flower itself.
According to a recent study using CDC data from adult cannabis users in twelve states, the vast majority of people who consume cannabis do so by smoking it. What’s even more interesting is that 59 percent of those who reported smoking as “their only mode of marijuana use.” For those people, it’s a choice between smoking flower and not consuming cannabis at all!
However, not everyone has the ability to just walk into the dispensary and come out with some flower of their own to enjoy. Due to the continued and outdated War on Drugs era legislation and federal prohibition of cannabis, cannabis still isn’t federally legal. That means that there are still large portions of the nation where cannabis flower is illegal in every way, shape, or form, regardless of its clear medical uses and potential for bettering people’s physical and mental health.
This article is going to break down exactly where in the U.S. both medical and recreational consumers can purchase cannabis flower, where they can grow it on their own, and what steps they can take to try to enjoy the healing power of medical cannabis without putting themselves at risk of breaking federal law.
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Where is Cannabis Flower Legal?
Just because a state has a medical cannabis program, it does not mean it is legal to purchase cannabis flower. Some programs explicitly do not permit the same of cannabis flower. Here is a list of recreational and medical states where you can purchase flower.
Recreational States Where Cannabis Flower is Legal
While more states are set to propose legislation to legalize in the second half of 2021, the following states are the ones who have actually done it successfully:
- Alaska
- Arizona
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Guam
- Illinois
- Maine
- Massachusetts
- Minnesota
- Montana (in 2021)
- Nevada
- New Jersey
- New York
- Oregon
- Vermont
- Washington
Medical States Where Cannabis Flower is Legal
Here’s a list of the states that allow medical cannabis patients to legally buy cannabis flower at their local dispensary:
- Alaska
- Arizona
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- District of Columbia
- Florida
- Guam
- Hawaii
- Illinois
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan (in 2022)
- Missouri
- Montana (in 2021)
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Puerto Rico
- Rhode island
- Vermont
- U.S Virgin Islands
- Utah
- Virginia (with some limitations)
- Washington
- West Virginia (only for terminally ill patients)
Remember, just because a state has a medical program, it doesn’t mean flower is available.
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The Hemp Option
So those are the places you can buy cannabis flower either as a recreational consumer or a medical patient. But what happens if you live in a place that has neither a medical program nor recreational cannabis use, like in Idaho, Kansas, or Nebraska? Thankfully, you still have some options when it comes to buying and consuming some cannabis flower.
Thanks to the 2018 Farm Bill, consumers are able to buy hemp-based CBD-rich cannabis flower or cannabis-derived products easily and legally! As long as the hemp flower you’re buying comes in below the established .3 percent THC threshold, you’re golden!
Since hemp-derived CBD was legalized, the CBD industry has exploded so you should have no trouble at all getting your hands on some top-notch CBD-rich cannabis flower no matter where you live in the U.S.
While it might not have the same concentrations of powerful cannabinoids as the product you’ll get at either the recreational or medical dispensary, it’s far better than nothing. CBD has been shown to be effective in reducing anxiety, stress, easing inflammation, and even easing nagging aches and pains, so smoking some hemp flower will go a long way to helping you feel better sooner!
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