What states have legal weed? Will Congress OK it?

Mike Davis, Asbury Park Press

Mon, March 6, 2023 at 2:10 AM PST

What states have legal weed? Will Congress OK it? It seems like just yesterday that New Jersey was caught in a years-long soap opera of “will they” or “won’t they.”

Fast forward a couple of years, and New Jersey’s cannabis industry is already nearing a $300 million market that experts largely agree will hit billion-dollar territory before too long.

But what’s going on with the rest of the country?

Until cannabis is legal on the federal level, there will always be some level of restrictions. Universities aren’t able to touch the plant, in most cases, since they receive federal funding — which could be jeopardized by breaking federal law. Cannabis businesses are severely limited in banking operations, from opening a checking account to even taking credit cards, since federally-insured banks can’t do business with what is, technically, a large-scale drug operation. The bigger businesses can’t even transport their products across state lines, even if those two states legalized weed.

Even card-carrying medical marijuana patients risk potential arrest and conviction every time they buy, possess or consume even the smallest amount of licensed, legalized cannabis.

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