In August 2013, the Justice Department stated in a press release that it was not going to enforce federal law prohibiting the cannabis use in states that were launching recreational cannabis programs at the time, clearing the way for state-by-state marijuana legalization in the United States. Approximately 12 years down the line, half of Americans live in states where marijuana is legal and another 105 million have access to medical marijuana. This means that 80 percent of U.S. residents now live in a state with some sort of legal weed.
In 2013, it was Colorado and Washington which were gearing up to legalize marijuana after successful ballot initiatives as part of the November 2012 elections. But the federal government's policy statement was also relevant for another 18 states and the District of Columbia, which at the time had already legalized medical marijuana.
Data from the Census Bureau shows that between 2012 and 2014, a substantial number of people continued to gain access to medical marijuana as larger states like Massachusetts and Illinois passed measures. After those years, shifts to recreational weed legislation dominate the statistic with significant legalizations in California (2016), Michigan (2018), New Jersey (2020) and New York (2021), effectively lowering the number of people under medical marijuana legislation only.
Despite this, a total of 15 states have passed medical marijuana ballots or legislation after 2015, including Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida, Utah and most recently Nebraska. Texas last year significantly expanded existing laws and is now counted as a medical marijuana state for the purpose of this chart, significantly pushing up the number of Americans under any kind of legal weed law once more.
