37 out of the 50 United States of America have officially made it legal for the recreational use of medical marijuana. With the southern state of Mississippi being the most recent to join the cannabis club, locals voted for the program to be endured with people on receiving ends of cancer, sickle cell disease, and AIDS back in November 2020; Republican Governor Tate Reeves recently put the law into motion this past Wednesday, February 2, 2022. In 2020 alone, Arizona, Montana, New Jersey, and South Dakota signed off on the legalization of marijuana for qualified citizens of the age of 21 or older.
“There is no doubt that there are individuals in our state who could do significantly better if they had access to medically prescribed doses of cannabis,” Reeves stated in a post that he uploaded to his Twitter account. “There are also those who really want a recreational marijuana program that could lead to more people smoking and fewer people working, with all the societal and family ills that brings.”
Legislative manager for the Marijuana Policy Project Kevin Cadwell had a public statement to make of his own in regards to the prior proclamation: “We have seen an evolution throughout the region and people are getting over the stigma cannabis has around it. Often what has slowed down the process is getting elected officials to catch up with the values of their constituents,” he expressed. Mississippi is officially the first state of 2022 to act on its changed views of medical marijuana. Other states include Oregon, New York, Maine, Illinois, Arizona, Washington, Nevada, Michigan, Virginia, and so many more.