Following the watershed election in 2020, state legislators across the U.S. got down to business this year. As detailed in a new report from NORML, state legislatures have passed and enacted more than 50 cannabis reform laws since January. 

At the top of the list: Virginia, Connecticut and New Mexico, which passed adult-use legalization measures. New York and New Jersey also crossed that line by passing the laws that would enact voter-approved adult-use measures passed last November.

Beyond that, state legislators drafted, debated and passed laws to further expungement efforts, broaden the parameters of “diversity” in the cannabis industry and expand medical cannabis access.

If cannabis reform is an incremental process, and it is, then this past year has shown the industry just how much can be accomplished in state-level legislation. No doubt, there’s more to come.

“State lawmakers took unprecedented steps this year to repeal marijuana prohibition laws and to provide relief to those millions of Americans who have suffered as a result of them,” NORML’s Deputy Director Paul Armentano said in a public statement. “As we approach the 2022 legislative session and the elections next November, it is important for lawmakers of all political persuasions to recognize that advocating for marijuana policy reforms is a political opportunity, not a political liability.”

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