LAW: Enacted by Ballot Measure #8
EFFECTIVE DATE: March 4, 1999.
Removes state-level criminal penalties on the use, possession and cultivation of cannabis for patients who possess written documentation from their physician stating medical necessity.
Medical conditions affording legal protection: cachexia; cancer; chronic pain; epilepsy and other disorders characterized by seizures; glaucoma; HIV or AIDS; multiple sclerosis and other disorders characterized by muscle spasticity; and nausea. Other conditions are subject to approval by the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services. Patients (or their primary caregivers) may legally possess no more than one ounce of usable cannabis, and may cultivate no more than 6 cannabis plants, of which no more than 3 may be mature. The law establishes a confidential state-run patient registry that issues identification cards to qualifying patients.

AMENDMENT: Senate Bill 94
EFFECTIVE DATE: June 2, 1999
Mandates all patients seeking legal protection to enroll in the state patient registry and possess a valid identification card. Patients not enrolled are no longer able to argue "medical necessity".

CALIFORNIA

LAW: Proposition 215
EFFECTIVE DATE: November 6, 1996.
Removes state-level criminal penalties on the use, possession and cultivation of cannabis by patients who possess a "written or oral recommendation" from their physician stating medical necessity. Medical conditions affording legal protection: arthritis; cachexia; cancer; chronic pain; HIV or AIDS; epilepsy; migraine; and multiple sclerosis. No set limits regarding the amount of cannabis patients may possess and/or cultivate were provided by this act.

AMENDMENT: Senate Bill 420
EFFECTIVE DATE: January 1, 2004
Imposes guidelines outlining how much medicinal cannabis patients may grow and possess.
Under these guidelines, qualified patients and/or their primary caregivers may possess no more than 8 ounces of dried cannabis and/or 6 mature (or 12 immature) cannabis plants. However, patients may possess larger amounts of cannabis if recommended by a physician. The legislation also allows counties and municipalities to approve and/or maintain local ordinances permitting patients to possess larger quantities of medicinal cannabis. As well, these guidelines grant implied legal protection to the state's medicinal cannabis dispensaries. This also mandated the California Department of State Health Services to establish a voluntary medicinal cannabis patient registry, and issue identification cards to qualified patients. However, although ID cards have been issued, no such registry has been established to date.

COLORADO

LAW: Amendment 20 to state constitution
EFFECTIVE DATE: June 1, 2001
Removes state-level criminal penalties on the use, possession and cultivation of cannabis by patients who possess written documentation from their physician affirming "medical necessity" (Patients must possess this documentation prior to an arrest.) Medical conditions affording legal protection: cachexia; cancer; chronic pain; chronic nervous system disorders; epilepsy and other disorders characterized by seizures; glaucoma; HIV or AIDS; multiple sclerosis and other disorders characterized by muscle spasticity; and nausea. Other conditions are subject to approval by the Colorado Board of Health. Patients (or their primary caregivers) may legally possess no more than 2 ounces of cannabis, and may cultivate no more than 6 cannabis plants. The law establishes a confidential state-run patient registry that issues identification cards to qualifying patients. Patients who do not join the registry or possess greater amounts of cannabis than allowed by law may argue the "affirmative defense of medical necessity" if they are arrested on cannabis charges.

HAWAII

LAW: Senate Bill 862
EFFECTIVE DATE: December 28, 2000.
Removes state-level criminal penalties on the use, possession and cultivation of cannabis by patients who possess a signed statement from their physician affirming that he or she suffers from a debilitating condition and that the "potential benefits of medical use of cannabis would likely outweigh the health risks." Medical conditions affording legal protection: cachexia; cancer; chronic pain; Crohn’s disease; epilepsy and other disorders characterized by seizures; glaucoma; HIV or AIDS; multiple sclerosis and other disorders characterized by muscle spasticity; and nausea. Other conditions are subject to approval by the Hawaii Department of Health. Patients (or their primary caregivers) may legally possess no more than one ounce of usable cannabis, and may cultivate no more than 7 cannabis plants, of which no more than 3 may be mature. The law establishes a mandatory, confidential state-run patient registry that issues identification cards to qualifying patients.

A separate statute also exists allowing patients arrested on cannabis charges to present a "choice of evils" defense arguing that their use of cannabis is medically necessary.

MAINE

LAW: Enacted by ballot Question 2
EFFECTIVE DATE: December 22, 1999.
Removes state-level criminal penalties on the use, possession and cultivation of cannabis by patients who possess an oral or written "professional opinion" from their physician stating medical necessity. Medical conditions affording legal protection: epilepsy and other disorders characterized by seizures; glaucoma; multiple sclerosis and other disorders characterized by muscle spasticity; and nausea or vomiting as a result of AIDS or cancer chemotherapy. Patients (or their primary caregivers) may legally possess no more than 1.25 ounces of cannabis, and may cultivate no more than 6 cannabis plants, of which no more than 3 may be mature. Those patients who possess greater amounts of cannabis than allowed by law are afforded a "simple defense" to a charge of cannabis possession. The law does not establish a state-run patient registry.

AMENDMENTS: Senate Bill 611
EFFECTIVE DATE: April 2, 2002
Increases the amount of cannabis possession from 1.25 ounces to 2.5 ounces.

MARYLAND

LAW: Affirmative Defense for Medicinal Cannabis
EFFECTIVE DATE: Sometime in 2003
Requires the court to consider a defendant's use of medical cannabis to be a mitigating factor in cannabis-related state prosecution. If the patient, post-arrest, successfully makes the case at trial that his or her use of cannabis is one of medical necessity, then the maximum penalty allowed by law would be a $100 fine.

MONTANA

LAW: Initiative 148
EFFECTIVE DATE: November 2, 2004.
Removes state-level criminal penalties on the use, possession and cultivation of cannabis by patients who possess written documentation from their physicians stating medical necessity.
Medical conditions affording legal protection: cachexia or wasting syndrome; severe or chronic pain; severe nausea; seizures, including but not limited to seizures caused by epilepsy; or severe or persistent muscle spasms, including but not limited to spasms caused by multiple sclerosis or Crohn's disease. Patients (or their primary caregivers) may possess no more than 6 cannabis plants. The law establishes a confidential state-run patient registry that issues identification cards to qualifying patients.

NEW MEXICO

LAW: Senate Bill 523
EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 2007.
Mandates the state Department of Health to promulgate rules governing the use and distribution of medical cannabis to state-authorized patients. These rules shall address the creation of state-licensed "cannabis production facilities," the development of a confidential patient registry and a state-authorized marijuana distribution system, and "define the amount of cannabis that is necessary to constitute an adequate supply" for qualified patients.

NEVADA

LAW: Enacted by ballot Question 9
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2001.
Removes state-level criminal penalties on the use, possession and cultivation of cannabis by patients who have “written documentation” from their physician stating medical necessity.
Medical conditions affording legal protection: AIDS; cancer; glaucoma; and any medical condition or treatment to a medical condition that produces cachexia, persistent muscle spasms or seizures, severe nausea or pain. Other conditions are subject to approval by the health division of the state Department of Human Resources. Patients (or their primary caregivers) may legally possess no more than one ounce of usable cannabis, and may cultivate no more than 7 cannabis plants, of which no more than 3 may be mature. The law establishes a confidential state-run patient registry that issues identification cards to qualifying patients. Patients who do not join the registry or possess greater amounts of cannabis than allowed by law may argue the “affirmative defense of medical necessity” if they are arrested on cannabis charges.

OREGON

LAW: Measure 67
EFFECTIVE DATE: December 3, 1998.
Removes state-level criminal penalties on the use, possession and cultivation of cannabis by patients who possess a signed recommendation from their physician stating medical necessity.
Medical conditions affording legal protection: cachexia; cancer; chronic pain; epilepsy and other disorders characterized by seizures; glaucoma; HIV or AIDS; multiple sclerosis and other disorders characterized by muscle spasticity; and nausea. Other conditions are subject to approval by the Health Division of the Oregon Department of Human Resources. Patients (or their primary caregivers) may legally possess no more than 3 ounces of cannabis, and may cultivate no more than 7 cannabis plants, of which no more than 3 may be mature. The law establishes a confidential state-run patient registry that issues identification cards to qualifying patients. Patients who do not join the registry or possess greater amounts of cannabis than allowed by law may argue the "affirmative defense of medical necessity" if they are arrested on cannabis charges.

AMENDMENT: House Bill 3052
EFFECTIVE DATE: July 21, 1999
Mandates that patients (or their caregivers) may only cultivate cannabis in one location, and requires that patients must be diagnosed by their physicians at least 12 months prior to an arrest in order to present an "affirmative defense." This bill also states that law enforcement officials who seize cannabis from a patient pending trial do not have to keep those plants alive. Last year the Oregon Board of Health approved agitation due to Alzheimer’s disease to the list of debilitating conditions qualifying for legal protection.

In August 2001, program administrators filed established temporary procedures further defining the relationship between physicians and patients. The new rule defines an attending physician as "a physician who has established a physician/patient relationship with the patient and has documented activities in a patient file."

AMENDMENT: Senate Bill 1085
EFFECTIVE DATE: January 1, 2006
Raises the quantity of cannabis that authorized patients may possess from 7 plants (with no more than 3 mature) and 3 ounces of cannabis to 6 mature cannabis plants, 18 immature seedlings, and 24 ounces of usable cannabis. However, those state-qualified patients who possess cannabis in amounts exceeding the new state guidelines will no longer retain the ability to argue an "affirmative defense" of medical necessity at trial. Patients who fail to register with the state, but who possess medical cannabis in amounts compliant with state law, still retain the ability to raise an "affirmative defense" at trial.

Other amendments to Oregon's medical cannabis law redefine "mature plants" to include only those cannabis plants that are more than 12 inches in height and diameter, and establish a state-registry for those authorized to produce medical cannabis to qualified patients.

RHODE ISLAND

LAW: The Edward O. Hawkins and Thomas C. Slater Medical Marijuana Act
EFFECTIVE DATE: January 3, 2006.
Removes state-level criminal penalties on the use, possession and cultivation of cannabis by patients who possess "written certification" from their physician stating, "In the practitioner's professional opinion, the potential benefits of the medical use of cannabis would likely outweigh the health risks for the qualifying patient." Medical conditions affording legal protection: cachexia; cancer; glaucoma; Hepatitis C; severe, debilitating, chronic pain; severe nausea; seizures, including but not limited to, those characteristic of epilepsy; or severe and persistent muscle spasms, including but not limited to, those characteristic of multiple sclerosis or Crohn's Disease; or agitation of Alzheimer's Disease. Other conditions are subject to approval by the Rhode Island Department of Health. Patients (and/or their primary caregivers) may legally possess 2.5 ounces of cannabis and/or 12 plants, and their cannabis must be stored in an indoor facility. The law establishes a mandatory, confidential state-run patient registry that issues identification cards to qualifying patients. Patients who do not register with the Department of Health, but have received certification from their physician to use medicinal cannabis, may raise an affirmative defense at trial. The Department of Health has 90 days from the passage of this act to establish rules for issuing identification cards to qualifying patients.

VERMONT

LAW: Senate Bill 76
EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 2004.
Removes state-level criminal penalties on the use, possession and cultivation of cannabis by patients diagnosed with a "debilitating medical condition." Medical conditions affording legal protection: HIV or AIDS, cancer, and Multiple Sclerosis. Patients (or their primary caregiver) may legally possess no more than 2 ounces of cannabis, and may cultivate no more than 3 cannabis plants, of which no more than one may be mature. The law establishes a mandatory, confidential state-run registry that issues identification cards to qualifying patients.

WASHINGTON

LAW: Measure 692
EFFECTIVE DATE: November 3, 1998.
Removes state-level criminal penalties on the use, possession and cultivation of cannabis by patients who possess "valid documentation" from their physician affirming that he or she suffers from a debilitating condition and that the "potential benefits of the medical use of cannabis would likely outweigh the health risks." Medical conditions affording legal protection: cachexia; cancer; HIV or AIDS; epilepsy; glaucoma; intractable pain (defined as pain unrelieved by standard treatment or medications); and multiple sclerosis. Other conditions are subject to approval by the Washington Board of Health. Patients (or their primary caregivers) may legally possess or cultivate no more than a 60-day supply of cannabis. The law does not establish a state-run patient registry.

AMENDMENT: Washington’s Medical Quality Assurance Commission approved Crohn’s disease, Hepatitis C, and "any disease, including anorexia, which results in nausea, vomiting, wasting, appetite loss, cramping, seizures, muscle spasms, and/or spasticity, when these symptoms are unrelieved by standard treatments."