8 In 10 Americans Have At Least 1 Marijuana Dispensary In Their County, Report Shows

A new report shows the increasing access that Americans have to marijuana dispensaries in the areas they live in, according to Marijuana Moment.

The study by the Pew Research Center found that eight in ten Americans live in a county that has at least one dispensary.  There are now nearly 15,000 of the dispensaries nationwide.

The analysis found that 74% of Americans live in a state where marijuana is legal for either medical or recreational use, while 54% live in a state that has legalized marijuana for recreational use.

California was found to have 3,659 marijuana dispensaries, more than any other state.  99.5 percent of Californians have at least one dispensary in their county.  Oklahoma had the most medical marijuana dispensaries per capita with 36 shops for every 100,000 residents.

One in five dispensaries nationwide are located within 20 miles of a state border, and many are close to neighboring states with less permissive cannabis laws, a sign of how the industry is attempting to attract customers from states where marijuana remains illegal or highly restricted.

“For example, Indiana, Kansas and Texas all have restrictive marijuana laws but are bordered by multiple states that have legalized the drug for recreational or medical purposes,” the Pew report said. “In fact, a person residing in one of these three states can find more than 100 dispensaries within 20 miles of the state’s borders.”

The report goes on to note, “The patchwork of state laws governing the sale and use of marijuana means that many states have more permissive laws than their immediate neighbors do.”

There are now 24 states (plus the District of Columbia) that have legalized the recreational use of marijuana. Another 14 states allow the drug for medical use only.

The Pew findings are based on an analysis of state marijuana laws from the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, U.S. population statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau, and marijuana dispensary locations from SafeGraph, which curates information about millions of places of interest around the globe.

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