The above map shows state-level laws concerning marijuana.
Green: states that have completely legalized marijuana.
Dark Blue: states with both medical and decriminalization laws.
Medium Blue: states with legal medical marijuana laws.
Light Blue: states with marijuana decriminalization laws.
This timeline shows the U.S. incarceration rate from 1920 to 2008. It highlights 1971 when Richard Nixon declared a "War on Drugs" and the passage of the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984.
Since the mid-twentieth century, attitudes toward marijuana have shifted rapidly toward a greater acceptance of the drug. Many no longer view it as dangerous or immoral as they once did.
This national poll, dating from 1969 to 2013, reveals that for the first time, more Americans—at 58 percent—favor marijuana legalization. In 1969, 84 percent did not favor legalization.
This map shows those counties in favor of legalization in green and those against in red. The map shows a loose correlation between rural and urban areas of the state. Colorado Amendment 64 was on the ballot in 2012, and 55 percent of Coloradoans voted in favor of legalization.
This graph produced by Human Rights Watch, charting from 1980 to 2007, illustrates that African Americans are much more likely to be arrested because of drugs. Blacks, however, are no more likely to deal or use drugs than whites. Blacks are 14 percent of regular drug users but are 37 percent of those arrested. From 1980 to 2007, one in three of the 25.4 million adults arrested for drugs in the U.S. was African American.
This chart shows the arrests per year for marijuana possession in the United States, 1965-2009.
