In line with American for Protected Entry, 2021 was not a terrific 12 months for medical marijuana. The group’s 2021 State of the States Report analyzes medical-cannabis entry within the U.S. No state scores an “A” and solely two states (Maine and Illinois) obtain “B” marks. From 2020 to 2021, simply 4 states (Connecticut, Delaware, Louisana and Missouri) had improved grades. Each different state’s grade declined.
Within the introduction, ASA explains:
“Whereas we are able to acknowledge that we’ve got come a good distance for the reason that first medical hashish legislation handed in 1996, we should additionally acknowledge that not one of the state legal guidelines adopted to date may be thought of ultimate from a affected person’s standpoint. As of publication, there aren’t any states that embrace your entire vary of protections and rights that needs to be afforded to sufferers underneath the legislation, with some lagging far behind others. Due to the variations and deficiencies in laws and rules within the states, sufferers argue that the legal guidelines don’t operate equitably and are sometimes poorly designed, poorly applied or each. Even well-organized packages can fail to ship secure or authorized entry in states with legal guidelines that permit native governments to ban medical hashish companies from working, leaving hundreds of sufferers with out the entry state legal guidelines have been supposed to create… ASA strongly believes that state and federal legal guidelines should be modified to broaden medical-cannabis entry to the best extent attainable and be sure that sufferers are prioritized when it comes to medical-product entry, high quality, security and affordability.”
“There aren’t any states that embrace your entire vary of protections and rights that needs to be afforded to sufferers underneath the legislation.”
About adult-use legal guidelines impacting medical entry, the report notes:
“The leisure adult-use legal guidelines are supposed for a separate inhabitants, and may stay separate from medical hashish legal guidelines. Each techniques can co-exist in a state, however medical hashish legal guidelines needs to be particularly designed with affected person wants and protections in thoughts. Nonetheless, leisure adult-use legal guidelines are solely thought of on this report as a penalty when a state locations precedence on the leisure system over the medical hashish system. This isn’t designed to punish states which have leisure adult-use legal guidelines – and actually, only a few states truly obtained this penalty – however, it exists to remind legislators and regulators that leisure adult-use legal guidelines and medical hashish legal guidelines will not be the identical, and that medical hashish legal guidelines, rules and protections shouldn’t be deserted in gentle of further leisure use legal guidelines.”
The Prime 12 states on the checklist have grades of “C+” or higher. They’re:
Maine: B
Illinois: B-
Nevada: C+
California: C+
Rhode Island: C+
Maryland: C+
Ohio: C+
Delaware: C+
Colorado: C+
Missouri: C+
Pennsylvania: C+
New Jersey: C+
Oregon, the top state in 2020, went from a “B” grade to “C-.” Alaska (D+), Arkansas (D+), Florida (D+), Hawaii (D+), Montana (D+), New Hamphirie (D) and North Dakota (D-) registered the most important declines.
The most important affected person totals are in California (1.58 million), Florida (607,132), Oklahoma (385,500), Pennsylvania (384,254) and Michigan (241,216). Washington’s affected person numbers dropped precipitously from 46,573 to 11,000.
Oklahoma has probably the most dispensaries with 2,519, adopted by California (650), Colorado (466), Oregon (447), Maine (430), Florida (371) and Montana (355). The fewest dispensaries are in West Virginia (2); Missouri, Rhode Island and Utah (3); New Hampshire (4); Verrmont (5); Delaware (6); Washington, DC (7); North Dakota (8); and Louisiana (9).
Maine has the most effective “Entry to Drugs” and “Program Performance.” Illinois is hailed for “Affordibility,” Ohio for “Well being & Social Fairness” and Nevada for “Client Protections & Product Security.” Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, South Dakota and U.S. Virgin Islands all scored excessive for “Sufferers Rights & Client Protections.”
Further points mentioned are:
• Progress Among the many Affected person Inhabitants
• Insurance coverage Protection
• Letting Healthcare Practitioners Resolve
• Permitting Hashish Use by Terminally-Unwell Sufferers at Healthcare Services
• Various Accessibilty Strategies
• Prioritizing Client Protections and Product Security
• Monitor-and-Hint Safeguards
• Federal Hashish Legal guidelines and the Affect on State Applications
• Useful View of Medical-Hashish Applications in a Submit-Prohibition Atmosphere
• Draft Fairness for Mecical Hashish Sufferers Decision
Learn your entire report here.
