79% of Americans live in a county with legal cannabis dispensary: report
A Pew Research analysis found that 74% of Americans live in a state where marijuana is legal for medical or adult use.
(NewsNation) — Although marijuana is illegal under federal law, 54% of Americans live in a state where recreational use of marijuana is legal, according to an analysis from the Pew Research Center.
The analysis revealed that 74% of Americans live in a state where marijuana is legal for either medical or recreational use. Additionally, 79% of Americans live in a county with at least one marijuana dispensary.
There are nearly 15,000 cannabis dispensaries in the U.S., according to the analysis.
California has more dispensaries than any other state, with 3,659 dispensaries "more than double the amount in the next closed state."
A quarter of all marijuana dispensaries in the U.S. are in California and 99.5% of Californians have at least one dispensary in their county.
“Los Angeles County has more dispensaries (1,481) than any state other than California itself,” Pew found.
Meanwhile, Oklahoma holds the record for most medical marijuana dispensaries per capita with 36 shops for every 100,000 residents.
The analysis found that one in five dispensaries across the county are "located within 20 miles of a state border," and 29% of those border dispensaries neighboring states with "less permissive cannabis laws."
Pew provided this example: Indiana, Kansas, and Texas have restrictive marijuana laws but are bordered by multiple states that have legalized the drug for medical or recreational use. People living in one of those three states can find more than 100 dispensaries within 20 miles of the state's borders.
During the early stages of marijuana legislation, concerns were raised that dispensers would be overly represented in low-income neighborhoods. Pew's analysis found the situation is more nuanced.
The analysis found four states — Colorado, Connecticut, Maryland, and Virginia — have legalized marijuana for medical and recreational purposes where median incomes are at least $20,000 lower in areas "with high concentrations of dispensaries than areas in the state with low concentrations of dispensaries."
In contrast, in New York and New Hampshire, the median household incomes are around $20,000 or more higher in areas with many dispensaries than in areas with few dispensaries, according to the analysis.