Americans for Safe Access grades 44 states that have some form of medicinal cannabis program in their 2017 "Medical Marijuana Access in the United States" report. Not one state received an A, while 16 (mostly CBD-only states) were given F- grades.
The top three states, with B+ grades, are
Illinois: 89.8% score percentage + 25 point improvment bonus, "seen great improvements since its passage in 2013."
Michigan: 88.75% + 25 bonus, "could be one of the strongest programs for patients in the country."
California: 87% + 10 bonus, "still the best place in the country for patients to receive legal protection."
The three worst states, with F- grades, are
Wisconsin: 21.4% + 0 bonus, "needs to be completely overhauled in order to provide any benefits to the patients."
Tennessee: 28.8% + 0 bonus, "must pass a comprehensive medical cannabis law."
Missouri 24.8% + 0 bonus, "has a long way to go before it meets the needs of the state's medical cannabis patient population."
Here's the state-by-state breakdown:
B+ – CA, IL, MI
B – HI, ME, MT, NV, NM, OH, OR
B- – AZ, AR, CO, CT, DC, FL, MA, NH, PA
C+ – DE, RI
C- – MN, VT, WA
D- – AK
F- – AL, GA, IA, KY, LA, MO, MS, NC, OK, SC, TN, TX, UT, VA, WI, WY
Not graded – ID, IN, KS, NE, NC, SD
Five key ASA conclusions:
1. National trends in medical cannabis policy are generally moving in a positive direction.
2. Florida, Hawaii, Connecticut, New Jersey and Illinois should add chronic pain conditions to their list of qualifying conditions.
3. Many states would benefit from revisiting civil discrimination protections for housing, employment, organ transplants and parental rights for patients.
4. States would be wise to… avoid the temptation to merge the medical program with the state's recently adopted adult use program.
5. Under the new U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions the future of medical cannabis programs is unclear… It is imperative that state legislators work with their federal delegations to put pressure on the Attorney General not to interfere in their programs.
Read the entire report here.
