New Mexico Passes Adult Recreational Cannabis Use Law

The State of New Mexico has become the latest state to legalize cannabis for Adult Recreational Use (ARU). There are now 18 states, 1 locality (District of Columbia), and 2 protectorates (Guam, Northern Mariana Islands) that have done so, for a total of 21 governmental entities in the United States jurisdiction which have legalized ARU.

The GRAND TOTAL of people who reside in those areas is: 139,471,628.

The United States Census Bureau estimates U.S. population to be slightly above 330,200,000. That’s around 42.23% of the total estimated population. Guam is an American protectorate, and its residents, and the residents of the Northern Mariana Islands, are American citizens.

Many more states have legalized cannabis for medical use (MMJ), and/or have decriminalized possession to either a civil violation equivalent to a traffic ticket, or as a misdemeanor offense. One state – Oklahoma – has so liberalized their Medical Marijuana program that it is now viewed as a de facto legalization, which has in turn garnered the Sooner State the nickname “Tokelahoma.”

There are only 14 states in which cannabis is not legal for medical use. They are: Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Nebraska, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

Cannabis or its products in any form is 100% illegal in the territory of American Samoa, while Puerto Rico has a Medical Marijuana law, as does the American Virgin Islands.

It’s very likely only a short matter of time before cannabis is legalized at the Federal level.

States/Areas With Legal Adult Recreational Cannabis, Legal Approval Dates

Number	State	ARU Legalized	Population
1	Washington	November 2012	7,614,893
2	Colorado	November 2012	5,758,736
3	Oregon	November 2014	4,217,737
4	District of Columbia	November 2014	705,749
5	Alaska	February 2015	731,545
6	California	November 2016	39,512,223
7	Maine	November 2016	1,344,212
8	Nevada	November 2016	3,080,156
9	Massachusetts	November 2016	6,892,503
10	Vermont	January 2018	623,989
11	Northern Mariana Islands	September 2018	57,831
12	Michigan	November 2018	9,986,857
13	Guam	April 2019	169,952
14	Illinois	June 2019	12,671,821
15	South Dakota	November 2020	884,659
16	Arizona	November 2020	7,278,717
17	Montana	November 2020	1,068,778
18	New Jersey	November 2020	8,882,190
19	Virginia	February 2021	8,535,519
20	New York	March 2021	19,453,561
21	New Mexico	April 2021	2,096,829
TOTAL			139,471,628