April 23 (Reuters) – The U.S. Department of Justice is easing restrictions on certain marijuana products and accelerating the drug’s reclassification as less dangerous, marking one of the biggest shifts to U.S. drug policy in decades.
Reclassifying marijuana would be a first step in narrowing the wide policy chasm between state and federal cannabis laws, with the drug already legal in some form in more than 40 states.
Marijuana is currently grouped with heroin and LSD. Reclassification would move it to Schedule III, alongside Tylenol with codeine and ketamine.
Medicinal cannabis is legal in some form in 47 states, 3 United States territories, and the District of Columbia.
Below is a list of U.S. states along with Washington, D.C., District of Columbia, Guam and North Mariana Islands where marijuana is legal for recreational and medical purposes:
States that States that allow
allow only medical use
non-medical use
Alaska Alabama
Arizona Arkansas
California Florida
Connecticut Hawaii
Delaware Kentucky
Illinois Louisiana
Maine Mississippi
Massachusetts New Hampshire
Michigan North Dakota
Minnesota Oklahoma
Missouri Pennsylvania
Montana South Dakota
Nevada Texas
New Jersey Utah
New Mexico West Virginia
New York Tennessee
Ohio North Carolina
Oregon South Carolina
Rhode Island Georgia
Vermont Indiana
Virginia Wisconsin
Washington Iowa
Maryland Wyoming
Colorado
** Source – City of Los Angeles Department of Cannabis Regulation & CDC
(Reporting by Mrinalika Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Diti Pujara)
