At the start of another new year, advocates and lawmakers are again eyeing recreational and medical marijuana legalization opportunities in states across the country. This time, however, the momentum for cannabis reform at the local level comes amid a pending federal rescheduling process.
Nearly half of the states in the U.S. have enacted adult-use legalization, and the vast majority of states allow some form of medical cannabis access for qualified patients. But the push for further reform isn't letting up in 2026, with advocates targeting states across the country — from New Hampshire to Hawaii and several in between.
President Donald Trump's recent executive order directing the attorney general to complete the process of moving cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) may also bolster state-level reform efforts. That policy change wouldn't federally legalize marijuana, but some advocates feel it could embolden more state lawmakers to support ending prohibition locally.
“President Trump's executive order directing his attorney general to swiftly reschedule cannabis to Schedule III, coupled with the [Food and Drug Administration's] prior analysis recommending rescheduling, should be a game changer in the states that have failed to adopt medical cannabis laws,” Karen O'Keefe, state policy director at the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), told Marijuana Moment. “Federal law is on the brink of finally acknowledging cannabis has accepted medical use and that it is less risky than opioids.”
“Only 10 states lack a medical cannabis law and they all have Republican-led legislatures,” she said. “Now, their party's standard bearer has forcefully made the case that medical cannabis can help older Americans, veterans, and be a substitute for 'potentially lethal opioid painkillers.'”
“While I don't expect all 10 remaining states to pass medical cannabis bills this year as a result, this could make the difference in some. In South Carolina, North Carolina and Kansas, at least one legislative chamber previously passed medical cannabis, only for it to not receive a floor vote in the other chamber,” O'Keefe said. “Federal rescheduling at the behest of President Trump could make the difference.”
At the same time, however, anti-marijuana activists are stepping up their own campaigns seeking to roll back legalization in several states, despite the fact that polling shows consistent majority, bipartisan support for replacing criminalization with regulation.
Here's an overview of the states most likely to legalize marijuana in 2026:
Recreational marijuana
Florida
While it seems doubtful that Florida lawmakers will move to legalize adult-use cannabis legislatively, there's another push this year to enact the reform at the ballot — spearheaded by the campaign Smart & Safe Florida.
The proposed marijuana legalization initiative is currently under review by the Florida Supreme Court after the campaign collected enough signatures to initiate that process. But the state attorney general and other opponents recently filed briefs challenging its constitutionality, arguing that it misleads voters, violates a single-subject rule for ballot measures and conflicts with federal law.
An earlier version of the initiative made the ballot in 2024, but while a majority of voters supported it, the measure failed to reach the requisite 60 percent threshold for passage of a constitutional amendment. Smart & Safe Florida made certain revisions to the new proposal, but the campaign is running against the clock to secure ballot placement amid litigation that's already led to the invalidation of about 200,000 signatures it collected.
If advocates do make the ballot, polling continues to signal that a majority of voters would embrace it. Whether it could get to the 60 percent mark is uncertain, however. And Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), who actively campaigned against the earlier version, has said he doesn't think the state Supreme Court will allow it to proceed in any case.
The campaign has relied heavily on funding from a major marijuana company, Trulieve, whose CEO Kim Rivers is credited with lobbying the president directly to both endorse the prior Florida legalization initiative as well as federal cannabis rescheduling.
Meanwhile, a Florida senator recently filed a bill to legalize cannabis statutorily through the legislature.
Hawaii
Past attempts to legislatively enact legalization in Hawaii have fallen short, but momentum has continue to build over recent sessions, and Gov. Josh Green (D) is supportive of the reform.
House Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs Committee Chairman David Tarnas (D) also recently said that he will work to advance a bill in the 2026 session that would put the question of marijuana legalization to Hawaii voters to decide on the ballot.
Gov. Josh Green (D) backs legalizing marijuana, and House Speaker Nadine Nakamura (D) has acknowledged broad public support for the reform, but she said that some of her chamber's members from the island of Oahu are not on board.
Hawaii's Senate last February narrowly defeated a proposal that would have increased fivefold the amount of cannabis that a person could possess without risk of criminal charges.
A Senate bill that would have legalized marijuana for adults, meanwhile, ultimately stalled for the session. That measure, SB 1613, failed to make it out of committee by a legislative deadline.
While advocates felt there was sufficient support for the legalization proposal in the Senate, it's widely believed that House lawmakers would have ultimately scuttled the measure, as they did last February with a legalization companion bill, HB 1246.
In 2024, a Senate-passed legalization bill also fizzled out in the House.
Last year's House vote to stall the bill came just days after approval from a pair of committees at a joint hearing. Ahead of that hearing, the panels received nearly 300 pages of testimony, including from state agencies, advocacy organizations and members of the public.
New Hampshire
New Hampshire lawmakers have introduced a slew of marijuana-related bills for the 2026 session, including proposals to legislatively enact adult-use legalization — or alternatively leave it up to voters to decide at the ballot.
A proposal from Rep. Jonah Wheeler (D) stands out because it seeks to put a constitutional amendment on the state ballot that would let voters decide if they want to legalize marijuana for adults 21 and older, allowing them to “possess a modest amount of cannabis for their personal use.”
The measure comes as lawmakers have had difficulty advancing legalization bills through both chambers in recent sessions, and as Gov. Kelly Ayotte (R) has threatened to veto any such bill that reaches her desk.
Other bills filed for 2026 include measures to legalize marijuana possession statutorily, protect the gun rights of medical cannabis patients and make it so medical marijuana dispensaries could operate on a for-profit basis, as is the case in the majority of states that have legalized the plant.
The New Hampshire House of Representatives gave approval to a marijuana legalization bill on the first day of the 2026 session this month, but its prospects in the Senate are questionable. Even if approved there, the governor remains opposed.
“We know where it's going to go. Let's send a virtue signal,” the sponsor of the legalization proposal, Rep. Jared Sullivan (D), said during a House Commerce and Consumer Affairs Committee hearing. “Let them be the ones that are pissing off voters who care about this.”
The House has repeatedly passed similar legalization legislation in past sessions.
Pennsylvania
Bipartisan Pennsylvania lawmakers who've been working to enact adult-use legalization over recent sessions without success so far say Trump's federal marijuana rescheduling order could grease the wheels in the new year.
The House passed a marijuana legalization bill last year, with a novel proposal to have sales take place at state-run stores, but it was promptly rejected by the GOP-controlled Senate.
A top House lawmaker said recently that legalizing cannabis is one way to create a “very important” revenue source for the state, and it's an achievable reform if only legislators could find “the will to do it.”
Separately, a top GOP senator — Sen. Scott Martin (R), chair of the chamber's Appropriations Committee — said last month that he was skeptical about the prospects of enacting legalization in the 2026 session, in part because of the federal classification of cannabis that's now expected to change. Of course, marijuana would still be federally illegal under Schedule III, so it's unclear if a simple loosening of the law would move the needle enough from his perspective.
A top aide to Pennsylvania's governor said in September that lawmakers should stop introducing new competing legalization bills and instead focus on building consensus on the issue — while emphasizing that any measure that advances needs to contain equity provisions if the governor is going to sign it into law.
Sen. Dan Laughlin (R), for his part, said in August that the House “needs to pass the language in my bill and send it to my committee” after which point he “can negotiate with the Senate and the governor.”
The senator separately said recently that supporters are “picking up votes” to enact the reform this session.
Polls have shown bipartisan support for legalization among voters, but the reform has consistently stalled in the legislature, due largely to GOP opposition. But not all Republican members are against the policy change — and one recently said she felt her party should seize the “opportunity to snatch” the issue from Democrats.
Virginia
With an incoming new governor, Virginia is also in play with the potential legalization of recreational marijuana sales in 2026.
Cannabis has been legal to possess and cultivate for adult use since 2021, but there's currently no retail access for non-medical marijuana. Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R), who leaves office later this month, has vetoed bills passed by the legislature to establish a commercial recreational cannabis market — but advocates have been encouraged by Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger (D) position in favor of the policy change.
Spanberger recently laid out what “needs to be” included in a marijuana sales legalization bill in order for her to sign it into law — such as “strong labeling” requirements and allocating tax revenue toward education.
Last month, the legislature's Joint Commission to Oversee the Transition of the Commonwealth into a Cannabis Retail Market unveiled a much-anticipated proposal to legalize recreational marijuana sales that it is recommending lawmakers pass during the 2026 session.
Sen. Louise Lucas (D), the Senate president pro tempore, also said the state should move forward with legalizing recreational marijuana sales — in part to offset the Trump administration's cuts to federal spending in support of states.
Medical cannabis
Idaho
A campaign is seeking to put medical marijuana legalization on Idaho's 2026 ballot, and it recently stepped up its efforts by recruiting paid petitioners to gather voter signatures to qualify the measure.
The Natural Medicine Alliance of Idaho (NMAI) unveiled its certified initiative to put medical marijuana legalization on the ballot last October. The measure would provide patients with qualifying conditions access to marijuana from a limited number of dispensaries and provide a regulatory framework for the market.
To make the ballot, the campaign will need to collect 70,725 valid signatures, including from at least 6 percent of registered voters in 18 of Idaho's 35 legislative districts.
Meanwhile, voters next year will see a different kind of proposal on the ballot: A constitutional amendment that the legislature approved to make it so only lawmakers could legalize marijuana or other controlled substances.
Legislators separately held a hearing in March to discuss a bill to enact medical cannabis legalization legislatively, but there hasn't been meaningful action on the issue in the months since.
Kansas
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly (D) said last year that it's time for lawmakers in the state to finally legalize medical marijuana. Whether that happens remains to be seen, but advocates see opportunities for advancing the reform.
Polling from late 2024 found that nearly three quarters (73 percent) of Kansans support legalizing medical marijuana. About six in 10 (61 percent) respondents also said they supported legalizing cannabis for broader adult use.
Legislators have, nevertheless, repeatedly shot down reform efforts.
The House of Representatives passed a medical cannabis bill in 2021, for example, but it stalled out in the Senate. And after numerous hearings on the issue, the Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee voted in 2024 to table a limited medical marijuana pilot program bill.
A later effort to revive the medical cannabis bill on the Senate floor ultimately fell short. That measure was filed about a month after the House rejected a Democratic lawmaker's amendment to a broader drug scheduling bill that would have removed marijuana entirely from the state's controlled substances law, effectively legalizing it.
After the Senate committee shelved the limited medical marijuana bill, Kelly issued a statement urging the public to contact their representatives to demand that they take the legislation back up for action, but that did not happen before the end of the legislative session.
Senate President Ty Masterson (R) said in 2023 that was open to a discussion about a limited medical marijuana program. But in 2024, he appeared less welcoming to the idea, calling medical legalization a “nonstarter,” suggesting the policy change would lead to a surge in “gang activity” and put kids at risk.
In October 2024, meanwhile, a state legislative panel voted against a recommendation that lawmakers legalize medical cannabis in 2025.
The legislature's Special Committee on Medical Marijuana, charged with consideration of possible pathways for medical cannabis reform, said legalizing medical marijuana was premature and that lawmakers should first wait to see how federal rescheduling and other reform efforts unfold.
North Carolina
The governor of North Carolina, in June, reiterated his support for legalizing marijuana, stressing the need to create a regulated cannabis program to mitigate the risks associated with products in the intoxicating hemp market.
“Our state's unregulated cannabis market is the Wild West, and it is crying out for order,” Gov. Josh Stein (D) said, adding that's the reason he signed an executive order creating a bipartisan commission to study cannabis legalization in hopes of moving the GOP-controlled legislature to act on reform.
During his time as the state's attorney general, Stein led a separate task force under then-Gov. Roy Cooper (D) that examined racial injustice issues and ultimately recommended decriminalizing marijuana and studying broader legalization in response to racially disparate enforcement trends.
In recent sessions, multiple limited medical marijuana legalization bills advanced through the Senate, only to stall out in the House.
Meanwhile, in the House, Rep. Aisha Dew (D) filed a bill last April that would have legalized medical marijuana for patients with a variety of specified conditions, including cancer, epilepsy, HIV/AIDS, Parkinson's disease, PTSD, end-of-life care and other serious ailments.
The North Carolina Compassionate Care Act is considerably more detailed than a separate Democrat-led medical cannabis bill that would allow access only for patients enrolled in a “registered research study.”
Advocates had been awaiting House introduction of a comprehensive bill, especially since Senate President Phil Berger (R) said his chamber was deferring to the House to move first on medical marijuana reform this session.
South Carolina
The governor of South Carolina said in June that there's a “compelling” case to be made for legalizing medical marijuana in the state, despite reservations from law enforcement. And a key GOP lawmaker who's championed the reform over multiple sessions said he's eyeing 2026 as the year to finally get the job done.
Gov. Henry McMaster (R) said he thinks supporters of the reform have a “very compelling situation,” despite the fact that “law enforcement, almost end-to-end, still have grave concerns.”
Sen. Tom Davis (R), who has sponsored several bills to legalize medical cannabis, has described his legislation as “conservative.”
An earlier version of Davis's cannabis measure passed the Senate in 2024 but was never taken up in the House. He then filed a revised version in 2025 that also did not advance.
The office of House Speaker Murrell Smith (R) has tempered expectations about reform, saying “previous statement on the medical marijuana bill holds true,” referencing his comments on insufficient support within the GOP caucus to advance the reform.
Among the public, medical marijuana legalization enjoys overwhelming bipartisan support in the state, with a poll last year finding that 93 percent of Democrats, 74 percent of Republicans and 84 percent of independents back the reform.
The state Senate passed an earlier version of the legislation in 2022, but it stalled in the opposite body over a procedural hiccup.
Wisconsin
With less than a year to go until Wisconsin voters are set to elect their next governor, the majority of the current candidates are making clear that they will support efforts to legalize marijuana — in part to fund public programs such as increased access to broadband.
Last year, Wisconsin senators took up a filed Republican-led bill that would legalize medical marijuana in the state, but it has yet to advance.
Senate President Mary Felzkowski (R) and Sen. Patrick Testin (R) filed the legislation, and the Senate Health Committee held a hearing to debate the proposal, taking testimony from patients and other advocates. Members didn't vote on the bill, but the chair said the panel would be advancing it “fairly quickly.”
Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R) said last year that he hopes lawmakers in the state can “find a consensus” on legislation to legalize medical marijuana. But he added that the cannabis bill filed by his Republican leadership counterpart in the Senate was “unlikely” to pass his chamber because it is “way too broad and way too wide-ranging.
More recently, Vos said he thinks “we are not there” in terms of having enough votes to advance even a medical cannabis bill through his chamber at this point, despite characterizing himself as a supporter of patients' access to marijuana “for almost a decade now.”
As the 2025 session was set to get underway, Felzkowski said she was “hoping to have a conversation” in the legislature about legalizing medical marijuana — though she viewed the Republican Assembly speaker as “an obstacle.”
Gov. Tony Evers (D), who supports legalizing cannabis, isn't seeking re-election — but he said last June that if his party can take control of the legislature, the state can “finally” legalize marijuana so that residents don't have to go to neighboring Illinois to visit its adult-use market.
The chances of advancing reform may also be bolstered by the redistricting map the governor signed in 2024.
Separately that month, a poll from Marquette Law School found that two in three Wisconsin voters support legalizing marijuana.
The state's Republican-controlled Senate and Assembly last summer rejected another attempt to legalize marijuana, defeating amendments to budget legislation that would have ended prohibition in the state and established new medical and recreational cannabis programs.
Evers has routinely attempted to change that policy as part of his budget requests — and Democratic leaders have similarly pushed for reform.
Republicans in the legislature also cut the marijuana provisions from a state budget proposal in May, as they've done in past sessions.
Despite Republicans' move to cut legalization from the budget legislation, party leaders recently acknowledged that the debate over medical marijuana legalization is “not going to go away,” and there's hope it can be resolved this session.
Marijuana legalization rollback initiatives and other key measures
Arizona
A recently filed ballot initiative in Arizona would repeal of key provisions of the state's voter-approved marijuana legalization law by eliminating commercial sales, while still permitting possession and personal cultivation.
The “Sensible Marijuana Policy Act for Arizona” is being spearheaded by Sean Noble, president of the political strategy firm American Encore.
Possession and home cultivation would remain lawful if voters chose to enact the initiative — and Arizona's medical marijuana program would remain intact — but the commercial market for recreational cannabis that's evolved since voters approved an adult-use legalization measure in 2020 would be quashed.
In order to make the ballot, the campaign will need to collect 255,949 valid signatures by July 2. If the proposal goes to voters and is approved, it would take effect in January 2028.
It remains to be seen if there will be an appetite for repeal among voters, as 60 percent of the electorate approved legalization at the ballot in 2020.
What's more, a poll from last year found majority support for medical cannabis legalization (86 percent), adult-use legalization (69 percent), and banking reform (78 percent).
Maine
Maine officials last month cleared prohibitionist activists to begin collecting signatures for a proposed ballot initiative that would roll back the state's voter-approved marijuana legalization law. The measure, if approved, would also revise the regulatory structure of the medical cannabis program by imposing product testing requirements.
The proposal — titled “An Act to Amend the Cannabis Legalization Act and the Maine Medical Use of Cannabis Act” — is a revised version of a marijuana initiative filed in September that was backed by a Republican state senator and a former top staffer to then-Gov. Paul LePage (R), a staunch prohibitionist.
The latest proposal, petitions for which were approved by the secretary of state's office, would remove and amend multiple sections of current state statute — aimed at effectively repealing the legalization of recreational marijuana sales that voters approved in 2016.
Possession of up to 2.5 ounces of cannabis by adults 21 and older would remain legal under the proposal, but a section of the law permitting home cultivation would be repealed. Medical marijuana sales and home cultivation would remain legal.
Activists must submit at least 67,682 valid voter signatures by February 2, 2026 in order to qualify for next year's ballot. If approved by voters, the initiative would take effect beginning on January 1, 2028.
Massachusetts
Massachusetts officials last month announced that a campaign behind an initiative to roll back the state's marijuana legalization law collected enough valid signatures to send the measure to lawmakers for consideration before it potentially goes before voters at the ballot.
The campaign had already expressed confidence that it secured enough signatures to advance. Lawmakers will receive the proposal at the start of the 2026 session on January 7, and they have until May 5 to act on it. If they choose not to enact it legislatively, the campaign would need to go through another round of petitioning and get at least 12,429 certified signatures by July 1 to make the November ballot.
There's been controversy surrounding the prohibitionist coalition's signature collection tactics, with allegations that petitioners working on behalf of the campaign shared misleading information about what the measure would accomplish — with claims that paid petitioners have used fake cover letters for other ballot measures on issues like affordable housing and same-day voter registration.
The state attorney general's office has confirmed it's received complaints to that end. And an association of state marijuana businesses last month urged voters to report to local officials if they observe any instances of “fraudulent message” or other deceitful petitioning tactics. The campaign has denied the allegations.
The State Ballot Law Commission has scheduled a hearing to consider the complaints of alleged fraud for this month.
Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell's (D) office — which cleared the campaign for signature gathering in September — has stressed to voters the importance of reading their summary, which is required to go at the top of the signature form, before signing any petitions.
Meanwhile, the head of Massachusetts's marijuana regulatory agency recently suggested that the measure to effectively recriminalize recreational cannabis sales could imperil tax revenue that's being used to support substance misuse treatment efforts and other public programs.
Whether the cannabis measures make the cut is yet to be seen. Voters approved legalization at the ballot in 2016, with sales launching two years later. And the past decade has seen the market evolve and expand. As of August, Massachusetts officials reported more than $8 billion in adult-use marijuana sales.
Massachusetts lawmakers recently assembled a bicameral conference committee to reach a deal on a bill that would double the legal marijuana possession limit for adults and revise the regulatory framework for the state's adult-use cannabis market.
Ohio
On the other side of the debate, Ohio activists recently said that they've met an initial signature requirement to launch a campaign aimed at repealing key components of a bill the governor signed to scale back the state's voter-approved marijuana law and ban the sale of consumable hemp products outside of licensed cannabis dispensaries.
2026 Could Be A Big Year For Marijuana
“2026 marks a potential inflection point for the cannabis reform movement,” Paul Armentano, deputy director of NORML, told Marijuana Moment. “We faced significant headwinds in 2025, with lawmakers in several states rolling back voter-initiated cannabis reforms, and we face additional repeal efforts in 2026.”
“How successfully we respond to these challenges will determine the degree to which our movement continues to move forward,” he said. “The public remains committed to adult-use legalization and medical cannabis access, and it is our responsibility to galvanize this public opinion and ensure that it prevails in state houses and at the ballot box.”
O'Keefe of MPP said “2026 holds both great potential and great peril for cannabis policy reform.”
“For the first time, ballot initiatives may quality to reinstate cannabis prohibition. Meanwhile, two of the most populous states in the country — one purple and one red — could legalize cannabis for adults,” she said. “And we are on the cusp of federal rescheduling at the direction of a Republican president, which could provide a boost in the states that continue to prohibit medical cannabis.”
“We are also seeing continued attempts to whittle away at cannabis freedoms, along with proposals to reduce the numbers of lives ruined over cannabis that already have legalization,” O'Keefe said.
What 2026 ultimately brings in the way of marijuana reform is yet to be seen. But if 2025 is any indicator — with a sometimes dizzying series of policy developments that advocates have worked to navigate — it seems likely that the cannabis community is looking at another rollercoaster.
The post Which States Are Most Likely To Legalize Marijuana In 2026? appeared first on Weedmaps News.
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