None of the state medical marijuana laws adopted thus far in the U.S. can be considered ideal from a patient’s standpoint, and because of their patchwork nature, those laws do not function equitably and are often poorly designed, according to a new report by Americans for Safe Access.
The advocacy group’s new 2018 annual report, “Marijuana Access in the United States, A Patient-Focused Analysis of the Patchwork of State Laws,” evaluates every state with any medical marijuana laws on a 500-point scale.
Of the 46 states and three U.S. territories with some form of a medical marijuana program — covering about 95 percent of the country’s population — none received an “A” rating.
There is reason for patients and advocates to have optimism in seven states awarded a “B+” in 2017: California, Hawaii, Illinois, Michigan, Nevada, Ohio and Oregon. That’s a 133 percent improvement compared to 2016, according to ASA.
