Press Releases

Washington, DC -- Americans for Safe Access (ASA) has released The Medical Cannabis Patient’s Guide for U.S. Travel in conjunction with the start of Labor Day weekend. This guide will help traveling patients understand the laws regarding access to cannabis in the states and territories that extend reciprocity to patients from other jurisdictions or permit the adult use of cannabis and will provide patients with a clear sense of how to obtain cannabis while traveling outside of their home jurisdictions. The guide also contains helpful tips for patients to bear in mind while traveling.

Forty-seven states and four territories currently have some form of medical cannabis law, but the rights and privileges extended to medical cannabis patients vary across the United States. As a result, patients who travel to other jurisdictions can find themselves unsure as to how to access medical cannabis in an unfamiliar place.

ASA created the guide so that patients can have information on the laws regarding medical cannabis across the country.  While many of the jurisdictions with medical cannabis programs offer some form of reciprocity to visiting medical cannabis patients, it is important to keep in mind that traveling across state lines with any amount of cannabis is a federal crime, even if the patient is transporting cannabis between two jurisdictions that have implemented medical cannabis programs.

“Most people take for granted the ability to travel across state lines during a long holiday weekend. But for almost 3 million medical cannabis patients across the country, traveling can be a difficult undertaking,” said ASA Interim Director Debbie Churgai. “Many patients rely on their medicine every day, and since traveling across state lines with cannabis is a federal offense, patients need to plan ahead in order to know where they will be able to find medicine safely and legally.”