While most are busy paying attention to Donald Trump, marijuana was legalized in four more states, with medical marijuana legalization in three more. As a hazy wave of legalization drifts over the US, it's a good time to go over what you can and can't do with that newly-legal kush.
When Can You Smoke Weed Legally?
Marijuana was just fully legalized via ballot measure in four states: California, Nevada, Massachusetts, and Maine — joining Alaska, DC, Colorado, Oregon and Washington.
California is the only state in which the new laws take immediate effect. Legal weed laws don't hit Massachusetts until December 15. In Nevada you can legally spark up on Jan 1.
The only straggler is Maine, where opponents to the new law have requested a recount, which will take about a month. After that the governor can take up to a month to certify the results, and then the law is enacted 30 days after that.
Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em
In all of the new states you can legally consume and carry marijuana (but not too much!) once the laws go into effect, but you won't be able to legally buy it until 2018. Each state requires special licensure for recreational sale, but has yet to set up the issuance and taxation infrastructure. Critics of the delayed action, such as the owner of The+Source marijuana company say that it will only increase black market sales in the interim:
If you have a situation where it’s legal to possess and use marijuana, but there’s no legal mechanism to purchase it, you are creating a bigger black market by definition...the sooner we can allow retail sales, the better the outcome for the community, and the faster the transition away from the black market to the regulated market.
Recreational marijuana is currently for sale in Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, Washington. In Washington DC, sale is in legal limbo, and marijuana consumers must either receive their pot as a gift or grow it.
Location, Location, Location
Before you go to your favorite grassy knoll to light up your grassy bowl, research where you can actually smoke. Every state bars the consumption of marijuana on public property. In most states this means the only place where you can get high is at home. While bars and other venues are technically private property, marijuana opponents argue that these spaces are "publicly accessible private venues," where marijuana prohibition still applies.
In Denver, however, voters just passed a proposition that will allow the consumption of marijuana (as long as it's not smoked) at bars and restaurants — signaling the potential copying of the policy by other localities in states where marijuana is now legal.
[I]nterested bars and restaurants would have to show they have neighborhood support before getting a license to allow marijuana use. In addition, patrons would have to bring their own weed to comply with state law banning the sale of both pot and food or drink at a single location. Patrons at participating bars could use pot inside as long as it isn’t smoked. The law does provide for the possibility of outside smoking areas under restrictive circumstances. The law also allows for non-service establishments, such as yoga galleries or art galleries, to set up pot-smoking areas or hold events serving both pot and food and drink.
[Fortune]
How Much Is Too Much?
How much weed you can carry depends on the state you're in, where you are and what form it's in. In every legal-pot state you're allowed to carry one ounce of weed, but in DC and Maine you can carry more (2 and 2.5 ounces respectively).
In Massachusetts and Oregon, you can hold higher quantities at home — 10 and 8 ounces respectively. And in most states, there are different regulations for different forms of marijuana. For instance, in Oregon, while you can only hold 8 ounces of marijuana flower, you can hold 72 ounces of THC liquid.
Additionally, in most marijuana-friendly states you can now cultivate your own marijuana plants. Alaska, California, Maine, Massachusetts, Colorado and DC all allow you to cultivate up to 6 marijuana plants at a time (Oregon only allows 4). Washington and Nevada are the only states in which personal cultivation of marijuana is illegal.
Don't Dope And Drive
In every state that has legalized marijuana use, it's illegal to drive while high. But the means of determining if someone has been smoking vary widely state-by-state and bring their own controversy.
Only Washington and Colorado have explicit open container laws — prohibiting opened containers of marijuana, partially consumed edibles or buds or any evidence of marijuana consumption in the passenger compartment of a vehicle.
In Nevada, Washington, California, and Colorado — 5 nanograms of active THC in the blood serves as the threshold for legal impairment — which is usually determined through a blood or breath test. But science shows that a blood test might not actually be the best method of testing for actual impairment.
THC rapidly clears out of the blood in occasional users within a couple of hours. While they're still high, a trickle of THC leaches out of their brains and other fatty tissues back into the blood until it's all gone... But daily users are different...heavy smokers build up so much THC in their body fat that it could continue leaching out for weeks after they last smoked.
[NPR]
Because of these potential inaccuracies, Maine's proposed blood testing law failed in its house of Representatives.
Because of the inaccuracy of blood tests, as well as costs and implied consent laws, Alaska, Oregon, and Massachusetts will use behavior and other evidence (like smells) when assessing a suspect for marijuana impairment.
Compared to alcohol breath tests, blood tests for cannabis are expensive and something of a hassle for law enforcement because of special protocols, storage, delay of test results and extra training needs. In Alaska, drawing blood for determining impaired driving requires consent or a warrant unless there are other factors beyond suspicion of cannabis intoxication.
No, You Can't Take That Weed With You
Despite every West Coast hitchhiker's dream, you can't legally transport legal marijuana across state lines — even when both states have legalized marijuana. Since the federal government still classifies marijuana as a schedule 1 controlled substance, and since the federal government has power to regulate interstate commerce — they still maintain the power to prosecute those who move marijuana between states.
With that said, now that there is an entire block of states on the West Coast with legal marijuana, politicians are planning to organize multi-state coalitions to lobby the federal government on a national legalization measure.
According to The Times, California's lieutenant governor spoke about the new power that California's legalization may give to states to get the feds to let up on current drug laws.
Gavin Newsom, the lieutenant governor of California, said he saw an opportunity for the states where recreational marijuana is now legal to “coordinate and collaborate” on the issue, including applying pressure in Washington to relax the federal ban.
Despite a clear partisan victory for conservatives in our most recent election, the most recent wave of legalizations should give liberal proponents hope. At least the country is moving left in one direction.
Correction: a previous version of this article stated incorrectly that Maine would use a THC blood test in impaired driving cases. This law was proposed, but failed in the house of representatives.
