State Drug Laws

93 Fordham Law Review 439 (2024)

34 Pages Posted: 3 Oct 2024 Last revised: 5 Dec 2024

See all articles by Mason Marks

Mason Marks

Florida State University - College of Law; Harvard University - Harvard Law School; Yale University - Information Society Project

Date Written: October 01, 2024

Abstract

States have long enacted drug laws that depart from federal laws and regulations. In the early twentieth century, several states prohibited marijuana while it remained federally unregulated. In the 1960s, states started criminalizing psychedelic substances. Shortly thereafter, in the early 1970s, they started reversing the trend to criminalize drugs by reducing or eliminating criminal penalties associated with personal marijuana use. State-level decriminalization accelerated in the 1990s and 2000s. 

More recently, states have extended drug policy reforms to other substances, including psychedelics, stimulants, and opioids. Some states have eliminated criminal penalties while others have replaced criminal penalties with fines or diversion to drug treatment programs and other support services. Some have funded clinical trials or policy research. Others have legalized facilities where people can consume federally controlled substances socially or with support from medical professionals. Meanwhile, many states have shifted away from decriminalizing federally illegal drugs to regulating their manufacture, testing, distribution, and sale. 

This Essay provides a typology of state drug laws comprising thirteen categories, including decriminalization, recriminalization, adult use, supported adult use, medical use, supported medical use, religious use, social consumption, safe consumption, clinical research, policy analysis, trigger laws, and food and agricultural laws. Several states have enacted hybrid legislation that blends features from different categories. A higher-level categorization can also be imposed onto the typology, dividing the categories into three broader groups, including laws regarding independent drug use, supervised drug use, and drug policy or procedure.

Keywords: drug policy, marijuana, cannabis, psychedelic, psilocybin, ayahuasca, dmt, mushrooms, natural medicine health act, drug regulation, fda law, decriminalization, Measure 110, Measure 109, supported adult use, Proposition 122, social consumption, religious use, religion, safe consumption, clinical research, MDMA, RFRA, free exercise, controlled substances act, drugs, controlled substance, Colorado, Oregon, natural medicine, adult use, supported adult use

Suggested Citation

Marks, Mason, State Drug Laws (October 01, 2024). 93 Fordham Law Review 439 (2024), Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4973861 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4973861

Mason Marks (Contact Author)

Florida State University - College of Law ( email )

425 W. Jefferson Street
Tallahassee, FL 32306
United States

Harvard University - Harvard Law School ( email )

1563 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

Yale University - Information Society Project ( email )

P.O. Box 208215
New Haven, CT 06520-8215
United States

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