Current Medical Marijuana States and Defining State Features

Table 1: Current Medical Marijuana States and Defining State Features
State Year Medical Law First Passed Ballot or Bill? Legal for Adult Use? Taxes and Other Defining Features
Alaska 1998 Ballot Yes (2014) Taxes based on weight. No medical-specific differences in taxes.
Arizona 2010 Ballot No Large number of patients on registry, nearly 85% for chronic pain. Applies state and local sales taxes.
Arkansas 2016 Ballot No As of August, only eight operational dispensaries. Applies state and local sales taxes plus 4% gross receipts tax.
California 1996 Ballot Yes (2016) Medical patients can have state & local sales taxes waived, but cannot waive 15% plus additional weight-based excise tax. Issues meeting revenue projections.
Colorado 2000 Ballot Yes (2012) Medical subject to state (2.9%) and local sales tax, while recreational subject to 15% excise tax.
Connecticut 2012 Bill No Medical marijuana not taxed. Chronic and severe pain not included in language of bill. Qualifying conditions expanded in 2016 and 2018.
Delaware 2011 Bill No No state or local sales taxes in Delaware. State licenses only four “compassion centers.”
Florida 2016 Ballot No State and local sales taxes apply. District Court decision recently overturned requirement of vertical integration. No chronic and severe pain.
Hawaii 2000 Bill No Did not have dispensaries until 2016. First state to legalize medical through legislature. State and local sales taxes apply.
Illinois 2013 Bill Yes (2019) Medical has 1% pharmaceutical sales tax rate, plus 7% excise tax at wholesale. Recreational has state sales tax plus first ever potency-based sliding scale tax.
Louisiana 2017 Bill No Not yet in effect. First round of medical marijuana “cleared for release” as of August 1st. No chronic and severe pain.
Maine 1999 Ballot Yes (2016) Most medical products have 5.5% sales tax, edible products up to 8%. Rate for recreational is higher. Recreational program just beginning to start.
Maryland 2003 Bill No No sales taxes apply – treated like medicine. Revised multiple times for medical conditions.
Massachusetts 2012 Ballot Yes (2016) Medical marijuana not taxed. Recreational dispensary locations beginning to ramp up.
Michigan 2008 Ballot Yes (2018) Both medical and recreational subject to state sales tax; recreational (10%) excise tax. Medical excise tax (3%) built to expire just prior to recreational implementation.
Minnesota 2014 Bill No No sales taxes apply. Only edibles and oils are sold – no flower or vapor-based products.
Missouri 2018 Ballot No Retail sales tax of 4%. Program still in very early stages. Dispensaries expected mid-2020.
Montana 2004 Ballot No No state sales tax. Taxes went from none (prior to 2017) to 4% (2018) to 2% (current).
Nevada 2000 Ballot Yes (2016) State and local sales taxes apply. Medical and recreational both have 15% wholesale tax (used to be 2%), recreational has additional retail tax of 10%.
New Hampshire 2013 Bill No No state or local sales taxes in New Hampshire. Chronic pain included as of August 2017.
New Jersey 2009 Bill No State sales tax included. No chronic and severe pain. Recent expansion bill passed.
New Mexico 2007 Bill No State gross receipts taxes apply. Recent bill to remove taxes failed. Relatively large number on registry.
New York 2014 Bill No State sales tax (7%) included, plus 7% excise tax. Over 100,000 patients; 40 total dispensaries.
North Dakota 2016 Ballot No State and local sales taxes apply. Dispensaries opened up beginning in March 2019.
Ohio 2016 Bill No State and local sales taxes apply. Complicated structure of producer fees. Some issues getting dispensaries licensed and built.
Oklahoma 2018 Ballot No State and local sales taxes plus 7% gross receipts tax apply. Nearly 130,000 on registry one year into implementation. Only state to not list qualifying conditions in bill.
Oregon 1998 Ballot Yes (2014) No state sales tax; medical sales not taxed. Strong registry incentive – recreational sales taxed at 17%.
Pennsylvania 2016 Bill No 5% gross receipts tax on growers and processors. Widely available dispensaries.
Rhode Island 2007 Bill No State sales tax (7%) plus 4% of total monthly sales from dispensaries. Only three “compassion centers” in total. One of first states to include chronic pain.
Utah 2018 Ballot No Bill recently passed authorized first 14 pharmacies in the state to start Jan. 1, 2020. As of now, no state or local taxes apply to medical marijuana.
Vermont 2004 Bill Yes (2018) No sales taxes apply – classified as prescription drug. First state to legalize recreational through legislature. Retail sales of recreational begin ~2021. Five dispensaries for medical use only.
Washington 1998 Ballot Yes (2012) Highest excise tax rate (37%) of any state; taxes levied at same rate on medical and recreational marijuana. Numerous dispensaries.
West Virginia 2017 Bill No Still awaiting regulations, projected full rollout in 2020 or 2021. Most recent bill passed includes 10% gross receipts tax on dispensaries.