States with proposed bills to legalize cannabis for adults: 11

• Hawai’i — DEAD for the year— HB 1246 and SB 1613 would have legalized and regulated cannabis for adults 21 and older. HB 1246 passed out of the House Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs and Agriculture & Food Systems Committees on February 4, 2025, but referred back to committee. SB 1613 passed out of the Senate Health and Human Services and Judiciary Committees but was not scheduled for a hearing in the next two committees before a deadline. Both bills are dead for the year.
• Florida — H0555 , H1501, S1032 and S1390 would  establish regulations for medical and adult use of cannabis, legalize cannabis for adults 21 and over, allowing current medical marijuana treatment centers to convert  to both medical and adult use sales.
• Indiana — HB 1630 and HB 1654 would legalize and regulate cannabis for adults. HB1145 would remove penalties for possession of up to two ounces of marijuana. HB 1332 would establish a comprehensive framework for regulating the production and sale of cannabis. SB 1113 allows both medical cannabis and adult-use.
• Kansas — HB2405 would legalize and regulate cannabis for adults 21 and older.
• Kentucky — SB36/HB105 is a proposed constitutional amendment that would create a right for adults to possess up to an ounce of cannabis and grow up to five plants. It would also authorize the General Assembly to create regulations for an adult-use market.  SB33would remove criminal penalties for possessing up to 8 ounces of cannabis flower and growing up to five plants. The legislation would also set an expungement process for violations covered by this legislation. HB 106 would remove criminal penalties for up to one ounce of cannabis, five grams of concentrate, 1,000mg of consumable cannabis products and up to five plants.
• Mississippi — DEAD —  SB2351 would have removed all criminal penalties for possession of cannabis flower. This legislation would not have set up a regulatory framework for distribution and sales of cannabis. Meanwhile, HB 518 would have proposed a constitutional amendment — which would have been referred to voters — to legalize cannabis for adults. Both bills died in committee without receiving a hearing.
• New Hampshire — HB 186 would legalize and regulate cannabis for adults. HB 198  would legalize simple possession of cannabis and penalize public smoking. HB 75 is intended to legalize cannabis for adults 21 and older with no regulation. HB 186 was retained by committee. HB 198 advanced out of the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Executive on March 5, 2025, and heads to the House floor. HB 75 passed the House on February 20, 2025.
• Tennessee — HB0703, HB 836,  HB 809, SB809, andSB981 would legalize and regulate cannabis for adults. SB923 and HB981 would legalize possession and home grow of up to five plants without a regulated market.
• Texas — HB1208, HB2975, and SB335 would legalize  possession and distribution of cannabis. HB1763would removepenalties for possession of cannabis and paraphernalia, among other changes to relax cannabis laws.
• West Virginia — SJR3 would refer a cannabis legalization constitutional amendment to voters. It includes expungement of criminal records for cannabis convictions.
• Wisconsin — AB50 and SB45 are proposed budget bills that would legalize cannabis as part of a larger appropriations.

Twenty-four states, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands have already passed laws to legalize cannabis for adults. One of the 24 states — Virginia — only has legal possession and home cultivation, with no legal sales, as does Washington, D.C. In Virginia, lawmakers passed legislation, SB970 and HB2485, to create the framework to permit adult-use sales. Both bills are awaiting action from Gov. Youngkin.  In Washington D.C., B26-0051 would legalize and regulate the sales and distribution of cannabis for adults. Thus far, however, Congressional intervention has prevented regulated adult-use sales in the District.

States with decriminalization bills: 8  

• Alabama — SB50 would create a fine-only offense for possession of under one ounce of cannabis with a fine not to exceed $200. For possession over one ounce, fines would begin at $250 for a first offense and rise for subsequent offenses. The legislation sets up the process for expungement for previous violations.
• Iowa — HF72would decriminalize possession of 10 grams or less of cannabis. HF78would decriminalize possession of up to one-half ounce (14 grams). Although these bills remove jail time for possession, they carry an exorbitant $500 misdemeanor fine.
• Kansas —SB295 would create a civil infraction of $25 for possession of under one ounce, five grams of concentrate or 1000 milligrams of edibles.
• Pennsylvania — SB 75 reduces the penalty for possession of up to 30 grams of marijuana or eight grams of hashish to a summary offense carrying a fine of up to $25. Imposes a fine of up to $100 for smoking cannabis in public.
• South Carolina — H3110 would create a civil infraction for possession of 28 grams of cannabis flower or 10 grams of hashish.
• Texas — HB3242 would make possession of up to an ounce of cannabis flower a non custodial arrestable Class C misdemeanor with no possible jail time- and a fine not to exceed $500. It would also set up the mechanism for expungement with a cost of $30.
• West Virginia — SB 219 would establishes that possession of less than 15 grams of marijuana , is subject to a fine of no more than $25 rather than being a criminal offense. 
• Wyoming — DEAD — HB 191 would have replaced criminal penalties and possible fines for simple possession of cannabis. The penalty would have been a maximum $100 fine for up to three ounces of cannabis, or equivalent amounts of cannabis products.

Thirty-one states and Washington, D.C. have decriminalized or legalized cannabis possession. Check out MPP’s report on the 19 states that have not even stopped jailing cannabis consumers. Bills have been proposed to reduce penalties for existing “decriminalization” states, including North Dakota’s HB 1596, which would reduce the penalty from an up to $1,000 fine to a fee of $150. HB 1596 passed the North Dakota House of Representatives and is now in the Senate.

States with bills to create comprehensive medical cannabis programs: 5

• Georgia —  SB220would strengthenGeorgia’s existing low-THC program (Due to limitations in its program, MPP considers Georgia a “low-THC medical cannabis state” instead of a state with a comprehensive medical cannabis law.)into a  conservative medical cannabis program.
• Indiana — HB1178 would create a conservative medical cannabis program. SB0113 would create the Indiana Cannabis Commission to oversee, implement, and enforce the program.  SBO400 would permit patients and caregivers to possess a certain amount of medical marijuana, for certain medical conditions. SB0341 would establish a comprehensive medical marijuana program, for patients with serious conditions, contingent on marijuana getting removed as a federal Schedule I substance.
• Kansas — SB294 would create a conservative comprehensive medical cannabis program.
• Iowa —HF105 would allow medical cannabis patients to have inhalable botanical cannabis, creating flexibility in treatment options. (Due to limitations in its program, MPP considers Iowa a “low-THC medical cannabis state” instead of a state with a comprehensive medical cannabis law.)
• South Carolina — S0053 would create a conservative comprehensive medical cannabis program. H3019 would create a much more expansive medical cannabis program than S0053. H3018 would give legal protection from prosecution for veterans suffering from combat-related PTSD for possession of under 28 grams of cannabis flower or 10 grams of hashish.
• Tennessee — DEAD — HB0872 and SB0489  would create comprehensive medical cannabis programs.
• Texas —HB1504, SB170, SB734 and SB259 would create a comprehensive medical cannabis program. HJR 70 would create a constitutional amendment for voters to decide on creating a comprehensive medical cannabis program. Also, HB1146, SB928, and SB1505 would standardize 5 milligrams as a dosage unit and allow for pulmonary inhalation and HB1574 would expand qualifying conditions for the low-THC Compassionate Use Program and standardize 10 milligrams of THC as a dosage unit.

Thirty-nine states, D.C., Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands have effective medical cannabis laws. In addition, three states have more restrictive laws that allow in-state distribution of federally illegal cannabis-based products with lower amounts of THC: Iowa, Georgia, and Texas.

This is a partial list of bills to roll back progress:

• Colorado —  DEAD — SB 25-076 would have banned adults 21-24 from buying cannabis with more than 10% THC while making other changes that increase waste, drive up prices, and hamstring the industry.  It was withdrawn by its sponsor.
• Montana —  likely DEAD —  (B 255 would have required cannabis consumers to pay a $200 annual registration fee for a state-issued card, and granted law enforcement access to a state-run registry on consumers. It was scheduled in committee but was never heard, and the bill page says it was withdrawn. SB 443would have capped THC potency to just 15% and essentially banned vapes and concentrates entirely. A committee vote failed (1-11), as did a floor vote to spring it from committee (23-27).
• Nebraska  — LB483 would re-criminalize medical cannabis. Only pills and liquid tinctures would be allowed. Smoking, vaping, flower, and edibles would be prohibited. LB 483 also requires all recommending practitioners to be licensed in Nebraska, meaning visiting patients would be re-criminalized. The General Affairs Committee held a hearing on March 3, 2025, and has not taken action on the bill as of this writing.
• Ohio — SB 56 and HB 160 would dramatically erode freedoms enacted by the voter-approved cannabis legalization initiative. They would re-criminalize innocuous conduct including passing a joint and possessing cannabis from another legal state, and would dramatically limit where cannabis can be used.  SB 56 would even ban smoking or vaping in your own backyard. Both bills also gut social equity funding and eliminate small grower licenses. The full Senate passed SB 56 in a 23-9 vote.
• New Jersey — (S.4154 ) would classify purchasing cannabis from an unlicensed source as a “disorderly persons offense,” punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 and/or up to six months in jail.
• New York  — Gov. Kathy Hochul has proposed a budget which would  remove the ban on giving law enforcement probable cause to search vehicles based solely upon the odor of cannabis.
• South Dakota  —  DEAD — HB 1101 would have completely  eliminated the state’s voter-enacted medical cannabis program.  It was "deferred to the 41st legislative day" (which is one day more than the legislative session) in a 7-6  House Health and Human Services Committee vote. (HB1124) would have taken away the  affirmative defense (which prevents a conviction but not an arrest) for unregistered patients. It passed the House 43-27 and failed in the Senate in a 17-18 vote. 
• Texas — SB3 would criminalize the manufacturing, distributing, or selling of  hemp products that contain cannabinoids other than CBD and CBG. SB 1867 criminalizes almost all currently permitted hemp products. SB1870 revokes municipalities and counties (even those with Home Rule Charters) abilities to implement decriminalization ordinances around controlled substances banned by state and/or federal law.

If you live in a state that still prohibits cannabis and no lawmakers have taken the lead to change that, send your state legislators a note to ask them to stand up for humane and sensible cannabis policies. Take a few moments to email them in support of medical cannabis, decriminalization, or legalizing and regulating cannabis.

MPP has webpages for each individual state, which you can access here. They include a snapshot of cannabis policies in the state, along with additional bills, courtesy of Bill Track 50,  to change cannabis laws. These include proposals to improve (or undermine) existing legalization, medical cannabis, and decriminalization laws.