As of 2019, 33 states and the District of Columbia (DC) have laws that legalize marijuana in various forms. As of 2021, marijuana is legal for recreational use in 19 states and DC.
As of 2022, 37 states, the District of Columbia and four U.S. territories — the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, the Northern Mariana Islands and Guam — allow the use of medical marijuana. Meanwhile recreational marijuana is legal in 19 states and the District of Columbia, with the addition of Guam. As state laws change, entrepreneurs and business-savvy people are seeing opportunities to open dispensaries.