Which States Allow You to Grow Your Own Marijuana for Recreational Use?

Two cannabis plants being grown for personal use. (Wikimedia Commons)

Celeste Stiles

After the 2016 elections saw four more states legalizing recreational marijuana for adults, a total of eight states, and the District of Columbia, now have removed criminal penalties for the possession of marijuana by those 21 or older.  But with legal, regulated marijuana sales still a year or more away, access to “legal” marijuana can still be difficult, forcing many adults to buy weed on the black market.

Luckily, several states allow adults 21 or older to grow their own limited amounts of marijuana for personal use.  Home growers will still need to procure either clones or seeds to get started, but many organizations and dispensaries in newly legal states have been sponsoring seed giveaways to celebrate, and feminized marijuana seeds are readily available on the internet.

With every state having slightly different laws relating to recreational marijuana use by adults, here’s a state-by-state breakdown of which states allow limited home cultivation by adults.

• Alaska voters legalized marijuana in 2014.  Under Alaska’s legalization law, adults can grow up to one six cannabis plants for personal use, tax free.
• California‘s Proposition 64, which passed last year, allows adults who are not participating in the state’s medical marijuana program to grow up to six cannabis plants.
• Colorado was among the first two states to legalize marijuana, doing so in 2012.  Adults in Colorado are allowed to grow up to six cannabis plants, but only three may be mature.
• District of Columbia, capital of the United States, allows adults 21 or older to grow up to six cannabis plants.  Unlike the eight states that have legalized marijuana, Washington DC has no plans to tax and regulate marijuana sales, making home cultivation one of the only methods to lawfully obtain cannabis in the District.
• Maine‘s Question 1 was narrowly passed by voters in November, legalizing marijuana for adults.  Adults are allowed to grow up to six mature cannabis plants and twelve immature plants.
• Massachusetts residents 21 or older, for now anyway, are allowed to grow up to six cannabis plants.  However, some lawmakers want to reduce that limit, but have been so far unsuccessful in doing so.
• Nevada also currently allows adults to grow up to six cannabis plants.  However, under Nevada law, home cultivation is only allowed by those living more than 25 miles from a licensed marijuana retailer once regulated recreational marijuana sales begin.
• Oregon, where retail sales of marijuana have been allowed since late 2015, allows adults to grow up to four marijuana plants for recreational use.
• Washington state, one of the first two states to legalize marijuana, is the only state that currently regulates and taxes marijuana sales but does not allow home cultivation by adults.

Hopefully, more states will allow responsible adults to grow cannabis in the near future, but until then, these states allow those with a green thumb to grow their own ganja.