If you’ve never visited a state where cannabis is legal (and you’ve never been to Canada), you might imagine the fully-legal corners of the world as hash heaven – people picnicking with joints in hand, basking in Bob Ross-like golden rays of sunshine and the sweet freedom that comes from being able to light up whenever you please.
We hate to be the bearer of bad tidings, but that’s not the reality – like, at all.
Smoking or vaping cannabis in public is still illegal in every part of the United States, including states where recreational marijuana is legal. Though laws on using tinctures and edibles outdoors vary, state laws on smoking or vaping cannabis tend to mirror laws on alcohol – i.e., if you’re in a space where you can’t crack open a beer, you probably can’t whip out a joint.
The only thing that makes cannabis law different than the laws on alcohol in these states? There are no marijuana bars. While Colorado and California may award cannabis licenses to businesses that provide on-site consumption areas, these “cannabis lounges” are the exception to a general rule among states that have legalized recreational marijuana: You can vape and smoke weed, but only at home.
This may matter to you because you want to get a buzz while picnicking with your partner, but it’s also a real medical issue. For the over four million medical marijuana patients, it means they can’t take their medicine (legally) unless they’re basically back at home. Easy during a pandemic maybe, but not practical when working or running errands.
While you can reap the medicinal benefits of cannabis through tinctures and edibles, smoking or vaping cannabis allows the THC to enter the system more quickly and generates a significantly stronger effect – so much so that, in severe cases (i.e. cases in which cannabis is being used to treat debilitating issues such as chronic pain, epilepsy, and insomnia) some cannabis clinicians say vaping or smoking marijuana is the only way their patients see results.
Violet Cavendish, Communications Manager at Marijuana Policy Project, says the ban on public smoking in states where medical marijuana is legal completely bars these patients, along with recreational smokers in states where adult-use is legal, from vaping or smoking cannabis in subsidized homes.
“Allowing for public consumption would provide a place to go for those who are unable to consume legal cannabis in their private residences,” Cavendish said. “People living in federally subsidized housing, for example, risk eviction for legal cannabis use, due to the discrepancy between federal and state marijuana laws.”
There are other complications barring many patients and recreational consumers from vaping and smoking in their homes. Some may not wish to expose young family members to secondhand smoke, or have roommates who forbid cannabis use in the home. Heather Despres, Director of Patient Focused Certification at Americans for Safe Access, a cannabis advocacy organization, said certain rental agreements effectively block medical marijuana patients from treatment, too.
“Currently, in states where medical or recreational marijuana is legal, many apartment complexes make residents sign agreements saying they will not consume it,” Despres said. “That means medical cannabis patients do not have access…
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