page_title: Cannabis dispensaries in the United States
hierarchical_section_title: Cannabis dispensaries in the United States
caption_attribution_description: English: Cannabis Station, a medical marijuana dispensary located at the intersection of Lawrence Street and 20th Avenue in Denver, Colorado. The shop occupies a former gas station. Part of the text on the sign says, "Fill Up on Diesel $30 ⅛'s."
context_page_description: Cannabis dispensaries in the United States or marijuana dispensaries are a local government regulated physical location, typically inside a retail storefront or office building, in which a person can purchase cannabis and cannabis related items for medical or recreational use. First modeled in Amsterdam in the late 1970s where they were innocently called coffee shops, it would take the Americans more than a generation to successfully duplicate the idea of a retail cannabis storefront. Unlike the Dutch coffee shops, today dispensary customers are prevented from consuming cannabis on the site of a regulated dispensary in all known markets.
  In a traditional Medical cannabis dispensary store a patient receives cannabis medication as allowed per the patient's doctor's recommendation. These dispensaries sell cannabis products that have not been approved by the FDA and are not legally registered with the federal government.
  As of 2016 there are state regulated marijuana dispensaries in Washington, Oregon, California, Colorado, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Illinois, Michigan, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Washington, D.C.
context_section_description: Cannabis dispensaries in the United States or  marijuana dispensaries are a local government regulated physical location, typically inside a retail storefront or office building, in which a person can purchase cannabis and cannabis related items for medical or recreational use.  First modeled in Amsterdam in the late 1970s where they were innocently called coffee shops, it would take the Americans more than a generation to successfully duplicate the idea of a retail cannabis storefront.  Unlike the Dutch coffee shops, today  dispensary customers are prevented from consuming cannabis on the site of a regulated dispensary in all known markets.
  In a traditional Medical cannabis dispensary store a patient receives cannabis medication as allowed per the patient's doctor's recommendation. These dispensaries sell cannabis products that have not been approved by the FDA and are not legally registered with the federal government.
  As of 2016 there are state regulated marijuana dispensaries in Washington, Oregon, California, Colorado, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Illinois, Michigan, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Washington, D.C.
  A cannabis dispensary differs from similar retail stores known as head shops, in that only state licensed cannabis dispensaries are authorized to sell cannabis.
caption: Cannabis Station, a medical cannabis dispensary in Denver, Colorado
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