If you are new to medical cannabis, you might be under the assumption that the rules and regulations governing it are universal across the country. They are not. In fact, there can be quite a bit of difference between one state and the next. Take California and Utah. Their regulations could not be any more different.
In California, state law allows for both recreational and medical use. Recreational users can visit local dispensaries to buy marijuana at will. Medical users go to licensed medical pharmacies where they present state-issued cards before purchasing.
Meanwhile, the operators of Cedar City Utah’s Zion Medicinal say that only medical cannabis is allowed in the Beehive State. Furthermore, state law allows for only 15 pharmacies to serve the entire Utah population. So what’s the deal?
A Federally Illegal Substance
The differences in state law can be traced back to several different things, beginning with the fact that marijuana is a federally illegal substance. Even if federal lawmakers wanted to put together rules and regulations governing cannabis, they couldn’t.
That will change if the DEA follows through on its plans to move marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). Rescheduling would put marijuana in the same class as a number of other prescription medications that could then be regulated at the federal level.
States Have Chosen to Decriminalize
Thanks to grassroots efforts at the state level, lawmakers have gradually become more accepting of medical cannabis. They have come up with a workaround that allows medical cannabis in their states without defying federal law. That workaround is decriminalization.
Note that states have not truly legalized medical cannabis or recreational marijuana. They cannot legalize what federal law considers illegal. Instead, they have decriminalized – they have chosen not to charge or prosecute people for growing, possessing, distributing, and consuming cannabis products.
Regulating Cannabis Independently
The states decriminalizing cannabis has led to a system whereby each one regulates it independently of the others. Utah regulates cannabis as it sees fit, separate from what is going on in Arizona, Colorado, etc. Ditto for California. In fact, it is the same deal in every state with legalized medical cannabis or recreational marijuana.
The big question is why states don’t enter into reciprocal agreements. The answer to that question goes back to federal regulations. States do not want any trouble from the DEA or DOJ. By avoiding reciprocal agreements, they are keeping cannabis within their own borders and thereby keeping federal regulators at bay.
State Standards Are Different
It’s also worth noting that state standards are different. Where voters in highly conservative Utah have voted only to approve medical cannabis, more liberal voters in California have given the green light to both medical and recreational consumption. Because state standards differ, regulations differ as well.
This plays into the fact that some states are still practicing cannabis prohibition. Their numbers are gradually dwindling, but they are out there, nonetheless. Voters in those states have decided not to legalize either recreational marijuana or medical cannabis. That is their business.
Things Will Change Eventually
In the decade or so I have been researching and covering cannabis legalization, I have witnessed some pretty impressive developments in numerous states. In my opinion, it’s only a matter of time before medical cannabis is federally legal. I wouldn’t even be surprised if cannabis were eventually removed from the CSA altogether.
I am convinced that things will eventually change. But until they do, cannabis is regulated at the state level. And as long as that’s the case, the rules from one state to the next will vary.
