What does federal law say about weed?

Recreational status

Recreational cannabis is not legal under federal law. (21 U.S.C. § 844. Penalties for simple possession)

Marihuana is listed in schedule I at 21 U.S.C. 812(c), schedule I(c)(10). A final rule published at 91 FR 22714 on 2026-04-28 moved two things to schedule III: FDA-approved drug products containing marijuana, and marijuana subject to a state medical marijuana license. Marijuana outside those two remains in schedule I.

Nothing in the April 2026 rescheduling touches a recreational purchase, because neither category it moved to schedule III has anything to do with one. A state's recreational license is not the state medical marijuana license the rule names.

Medical status

No medical cannabis program runs under federal law. (Schedules of Controlled Substances: Rescheduling of Food and Drug Administration Approved Products Containing Marijuana From Schedule I to Schedule III; Corresponding Change to Permit Requirements, 91 FR 22714 (Apr. 28, 2026))

The federal government runs no medical cannabis program: it qualifies no patients and issues no cards, and the rule treats a state license as conclusive evidence of state authorisation. What changed on 2026-04-28 is scheduling and registration. Marijuana subject to a state medical marijuana license, and FDA-approved drug products containing marijuana, sit in schedule III rather than schedule I; any other form remains schedule I. A DEA registration pathway exists alongside it, under which a registered dispenser may dispense to individuals authorized by state law to possess marijuana for medical purposes, subject to the limitations of its state license, and registrations under that subpart do not authorise non-medical use.

The April 2026 rule leans on a state's own paperwork: it accepts a state medical marijuana license as conclusive evidence that the issuing state authorized the activity, and it leaves who qualifies as a patient to that state's law. A dispenser the DEA registers may dispense only to people their own state authorizes to possess marijuana for medical purposes, and only inside the limits of that state license.

Hemp-derived products

Federal law has changed what hemp-derived products may be sold, and the change has not taken effect. (7 U.S.C. § 1639o. Definitions (as amended by Pub. L. 119-37 § 781, whose scope is limited until 2026-12-11 by the Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2027, § 2019))

Hemp today is the plant and its derivatives at not more than 0.3 percent delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol on a dry weight basis. Public Law 119-37 § 781 replaces that with a total-tetrahydrocannabinols measure and excludes most hemp-derived cannabinoid products; it takes effect 365 days after the Act's enactment on 2025-11-12, which is 2026-11-12. Public Law 119-103 § 2019, which H.R. 6500 became on 2026-09-02, holds those amendments to two product categories, 7 U.S.C. 1639o(1)(C)(ii)(I) and (1)(C)(iv)(I), until 2026-12-11. So the § 781 amendments apply to those two categories from 2026-11-12 and in full from 2026-12-11.

The measure shifts from delta-9 alone to total tetrahydrocannabinols, and the new definition leaves most hemp-derived cannabinoid products outside what federal law counts as hemp. Two product categories come under it on November 12, 2026, and the rest follow on December 11, 2026, so anything on a shelf today was stocked under the older definition.

Home cultivation

Federal law allows nobody to grow cannabis at home. (21 U.S.C. § 841. Prohibited acts A)

Cultivation is manufacture for the purposes of 21 U.S.C. 841(a)(1), which reaches any controlled substance except as the subchapter authorizes.

Federal law has no separate growing offense, because raising a plant is manufacture under the same section that covers distribution. The plant counts a state writes into its own law do not create a federal exception.

Possession and purchase limits

The possession limit, as federal law states it: No lawful amount is set. Possession of a controlled substance is unlawful unless the substance was obtained directly, or pursuant to a valid prescription or order, from a practitioner acting in the course of professional practice, or is otherwise authorized by the subchapter. (21 U.S.C. § 844. Penalties for simple possession)

On buying, federal law states: No lawful amount is set. Distributing or dispensing a controlled substance, or possessing it with intent to distribute or dispense, is unlawful except as authorized by the subchapter. (21 U.S.C. § 841. Prohibited acts A)

Federal law sets no threshold to stay under, because it makes possession lawful only where a practitioner's prescription or order, or the subchapter itself, stands behind the substance. No federal figure exists to line up against the number your own state prints.

Minimum age

There is no recreational channel under federal law, so no recreational age applies. (21 U.S.C. § 844. Penalties for simple possession)

Null because federal law creates no adult-use channel and so sets no age for one.

There is no medical program under federal law, so no medical age applies. (Schedules of Controlled Substances: Rescheduling of Food and Drug Administration Approved Products Containing Marijuana From Schedule I to Schedule III; Corresponding Change to Permit Requirements, 91 FR 22714 (Apr. 28, 2026))

Null because there is no federal medical program. The rule describes patient qualification as a matter for each state's own licensing regime, and sets no federal age.

Congress set no age because it built no channel that would need one. The age a clerk checks against comes from the state that licensed the store, not from anything federal.

Where you can buy

Federal law licenses no retailer that may sell cannabis. (21 U.S.C. § 841. Prohibited acts A)

Empty because federal law licenses no cannabis retailer of its own. The dispensers the 2026 rule registers hold state licenses and are listed under their own states; a DEA registration is not a federal retail licence. This is what makes retail_channel none, so no store is listed against the federal record.

A DEA registration is a controlled-substance registration rather than permission to open a shop, so the dispensers the 2026 rule reaches were licensed by their own states first. The question of where you can buy is answered one state at a time.

Federal law provides no lawful retail channel. No store is licensed federally, and every store this site lists holds a license from a state.

Cannabis law is set state by state. Read the state legality pages for the rules where you live.