WEED NATION
AMERICA IS A FASCINATING place as its geographical diversity offers an incredible variety of cultures and histories from city to city and state to state, as well as representing virtually every type of natural bioclimate to be found on the entire planet, all in one country. And with the arrival of 21st-century cannabis legalization, those experiences can be greatly enhanced for both medicinal marijuana patients and recreational pot users. With that in mind, we give you this guide to the cannabis laws, scenes, activities and even favorite strains of various regions and cities spread throughout this wonderful weed-wide nation.
#1 California
LOCAL LAWS
WE BEGIN OUR THC TOUR OF AMERICA with the state where modern marijuana legalization underwent its breakthrough beginnings (in the San Francisco Bay Area cities that first legalized medical pot during the early 1990s in response to the AIDS crisis), and now prepares for its dominant future (in Los Angeles, ascending as the new cannabis capital of America—and possibly the world).
Per Motley Fool, California easily sold the most legal weed in 2019, at $3.1 billion in sales (no other state even approached $2 billion, by comparison).
California voters okayed Proposition 215 in 1996, legalizing medical cannabis, although it took until 2004 for the dispensary system to be put into place. After blowing an opportunity to also be the pioneering US state to legalize adult-use weed in 2010, Californians finally got it right in 2016, passing Proposition 64, which authorized recreational retail cannabis for cultivation and sales. Adults ages 21 and older can possess up to 28.5 grams (one ounce) of weed and up to eight grams of concentrates. Visiting pot patients as young as 18 years old can use their out-of-state recommendations to obtain cannabis products as well. As is the case with other cities and states with legal weed, smoking in public in California is prohibited, as is even opening a package of any pot product outdoors. Use discretion and be mindful of local attitudes and law-enforcement policies toward public usage.
LOCAL CANNABIS SCENES
San Francisco/Emerald Triangle/Northern California
Los Angeles and Las Vegas may rock the glitz and glamour of legal weed, but it’s NorCal that is the down-and-dirty heart-and-soul grassroots producer of the finest cannabis on the planet, both indoor and garden-grown. San Francisco’s sistercity Oakland
