Tobacco Journal International May 2024
T
he legal recreational use of cannabis
for smoking, eating and drinking has
skyrocketed in the United States in
the more than 10 years since the
state of Colorado became the first
US jurisdiction to legalise the plant for adult
recreational consumers in January 2014.1
As of 29 February 2024, some 38 states
have legalised the use of marijuana for
medicinal purposes and 24 of these (plus
the federal District of Columbia) also allow
recreational consumption. More states are
expected to follow suit this year, with liberalisation proposals under consideration in
Florida, Hawaii, South Dakota and New
Hampshire.2
As a result, analysts from Germany-based
statistical analysis service Statista said annual American sales of legal, regulated cannabis products have already exceeded USD
30 billion.3
As a decades-long prohibition on the production and sale of the Cannabis sativa plant and its components are falling away throughout North America, the use of hemp as a personal care product ingredient is on the rise. 
