Most Americans now live in a state that has legalised the drug. And most also have at least one cannabis dispensary in their county, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis.
The analysis finds:
- 54% of Americans live in a state where the recreational use of cannabis is legal – just a dozen years after Colorado and Washington became the first states to allow the drug for recreational purposes.
- 74% of Americans live in a state where cannabis is legal for either recreational or medical use. California was the first state to legalise medical cannabis in 1996.
- 79% of Americans live in a county with at least one cannabis dispensary.
- There are nearly 15,000 cannabis dispensaries in the United States. Dispensaries (businesses that sell cannabis products) are common on the West Coast and Northeast, but also in interior states like Michigan, Oklahoma and Colorado.
- California has far more dispensaries than any state: 3,659 at the time of this analysis, more than double the amount in the second-highest ranking state. A quarter of all marijuana dispensaries in the U.S. are in California, and nearly all Californians (99.5%) have a dispensary in their county. Los Angeles County alone has more dispensaries (1,481) than any state other than California itself.
- Oklahoma has the most cannabis dispensaries per capita of any state: 36 dispensaries for every 100,000 residents.