Talk:Legalization of non-medical cannabis in the United States

message: Hey everyone -- I just wanted to give a heads up that I plan on removing the "State-by-state details" section from the article sometime soon.  This information surely served more of a useful purpose in years past, but now that we have cannabis policy articles for all 50 states (Cannabis in Iowa, etc.), it causes a lot of unnecessary and duplicative clutter that degrades the quality of the article.  The section has turned into a kind of sprawling mess, and is actually missing several states / territories that have decriminalized (Nebraska, North Carolina, Maine, Connecticut, Ohio, U.S. Virgin Islands), plus the legalization of cannabis in Maine in Vermont – so the section should be even longer.  The article's table of contents is also abnormally long, plus with more states added in that too would further increase in length.  These problems will just get worse with time as more states decriminalize / legalize and more material is added.  So, it very much makes sense to just eliminate the whole thing.
BTW, I recognize people have put time into adding the material, and it may seem like somewhat of a radical change that is being proposed.  But the same thing was also done on Cannabis in the United States and Medical cannabis in the United States recently, and it has improved the readability / manageability of those articles significantly (as a several people have noted here).  So hopefully everyone will be understanding of the change.--Jamesy0627144 (talk) 20:43, 24 January 2018 (UTC)
replies: text: Concur that this page has largely become redundant, and adds extra effort to keep current. Goonsquad LCpl Mulvaney (talk) 11:22, 29 January 2018 (UTC)
thread_title: State-by-state details

message: Article says: "In the United States, the non-medical use of cannabis is decriminalized in 13 states (plus the U.S. Virgin Islands), and legalized in another 9 states (plus the District of Columbia), as of January 2018".
:Help me understand.  Is not non-medical use of cannabis a crime everywhere in the USA due to federal law?  If a state repealed its law vs cannabis, how does that decriminalize it? (PeacePeace (talk) 19:12, 2 February 2018 (UTC)
replies: text: The fact that cannabis is illegal at the federal level is already clearly explained in the article, including an entire paragraph of the intro section.  The phrase you have added "except to the extent that it remains a federal crime" is unnecessary and I have therefore removed it.  It would be silly to start adding that kind of disclaimer to every sentence mentioning states that have decriminalized or legalized.--Jamesy0627144 (talk) 21:14, 2 February 2018 (UTC)
replies: text:  Note that medical cannabis is also illegal under US federal law; cannabis is listed as a Schedule 1 drug, having no legitimate medical uses per the federal government, despite being recognized medically in most states. So there is definitely a major state/national disjunct, but I concur with Jamesy that that disjunct is clear in the article. Also, despite it being illegal federally, the on-ground reality in many states is that stores are being licensed, selling cannabis (medical or recreational), and paying state taxes, so while it is indeed federally illegal, the on-ground reality in many states is that it's functionally legal locally. Goonsquad LCpl Mulvaney (talk) 03:02, 3 February 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  How Can Something Against Federal Law Be Decriminalzed by a State? 

message: RE: Decriminalization of non-medical cannabis in the United States
Concerning: Nomination for Featured Article
Hi. I noticed that this page has an active editor group and appears to be in accordance with WP policies. I am interested in nominating Decriminalization of non-medical cannabis in the United States for featured article. 
My question; would you be available for a final proofread of the article and complete the criterion for nomination for Featured Article? 
Habatchii (talk) 20:27, 20 September 2018 (UTC)
replies: text: I strongly recommend working to promote the article to Good status first. ---Another Believer (Talk) 20:29, 20 September 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  Concerning: Nomination for Featured Article 

message: So, it seems that David Nutt has never made this specific statement, though similar ones were made. I cannot verify this and it honestly does not seem that relevant to the article as a whole either. Should I just scrap the last sentence of the paragraph? Anboersma (talk) 10:26, 8 May 2019 (UTC)
replies: text: Anboersma, I would support removing the sentence of the last paragraph if this is the case. Could you post a citation that shows that he never made this statement (if this is possible)? Jurisdicta (talk) 00:03, 7 December 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  Health effects of cannabis - David Nutt source 

message: Regarding this edit by UpdateNerd, I am thinking this article isn't a good place to put the material but there is another article I can think of where it would definitely fit.  Regarding this article, the focus of it is on the non-medical use of cannabis, while the focus of the lawsuit that was filed is on the medical use of cannabis.  So for that reason alone I feel pretty strongly the material does not belong in this article.  There is also the issue that it doesn't really belong under the "Federal response" heading with the other items in the section (since the lawsuit isn't an action of the federal government), but that is more of a minor point.
There is a counterpart to this article BTW that focuses on the medical use of cannabis (Medical cannabis in the United States), but I would not put the material there either because right now it is just another lawsuit of many that have been filed over the years to reschedule cannabis... and that article is already quite long focusing on the major events regarding medical cannabis in the U.S.  A very good place to put it though would be Removal of cannabis from Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, which focuses specifically on rescheduling efforts including lawsuits that have been filed.  So if you are looking for a place to move the material I highly recommend that article as being the best place to put it.--Jamesy0627144 (talk) 08:25, 19 September 2020 (UTC)
replies: text: Good points, I will proceed with moving the material. Thanks, UpdateNerd (talk) 08:31, 19 September 2020 (UTC)
thread_title: Washington v. Barr lawsuit

message: Since legalization has always been the end goal of the cannabis reform movement and decriminalization is basically just a halfway step there, I'm thinking it makes more sense to use the word "legalization" in the title rather than "decriminalization".  Especially in this day and age when there is not much conversation about decriminalization at all except when the term is confusingly used to refer to legalization; I would like to prevent the article from muddying the two terms even more.  Anyone have a reason not to make the change?--Jamesy0627144 (talk) 18:54, 14 May 2021 (UTC)
thread_title: Proposal to rename to "Legalization of non-medical cannabis in the United States"

message: This bill (HR2943) didn't pass and only has minimal coverage; the notable topic is "failed attempts in the US Congress to legalize marijuana" - which needs to be expanded in the merge target. User:力百 (alt of power~enwiki, π, ν) 02:32, 16 November 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: I don't really see a good place for it in this article.  Much better place I think would be at Cannabis legislation proposals in the United States.--Jamesy0627144 (talk) 03:20, 16 November 2021 (UTC)
replies: text:  Fair enough; that merge would be almost non-controversial enough for me to do unilaterally.  I can look at expanding this article to include a short section summarizing that article later. User:力百 (alt of power~enwiki, π, ν) 23:52, 16 November 2021 (UTC)
replies: text:  About adding a section later, my advice would be to not even bother considering none of those bills came close to passing and were very consequential in the grand scheme of things pertaining to the history of cannabis legalization (except the MORE Act which is already mentioned in the article).  I would maybe just add a link to Cannabis legislation proposals in the United States in the "See also" section instead.--Jamesy0627144 (talk) 05:24, 17 November 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  Proposed merge of [[Personal Use of Marijuana by Responsible Adults Act of 2009]] into [[Legalization of non-medical cannabis in the United States]] 

message: The redirect Adult use has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Readers of this page are welcome to comment on this redirect at  until a consensus is reached.  Toddst1 (talk) 16:27, 27 June 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  "[[:Adult use]]" listed at [[Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion|Redirects for discussion]] 

message: Why is there no section in the article on the mental health risks from cannabis use? Citing a study from 1933 saying there was no damage to people is absurd - that study is more than 90 years out of date. Cannabis use, especially repeated cannabis use, puts people at risk of mental illness - it destroys lives, and people deserve to be told about the risks before they make the decision to use cannabis. This article is like an article about tobacco - which left out the risks of lung cancer. 2A02:C7C:E183:AC00:18AE:C5A7:BBBE:2540 (talk) 07:10, 28 May 2024 (UTC)
thread_title:  Mental illness risk from cannabis.