Population: 43,778
Regular Users: 11.3%
Pot Culture: 10 out of 10
Arrests per 100,000 residents: 431
NORML chapter?: Yes
Busted: Pot is big business in Humboldt County. Recently, Eureka police entered a family’s home and
found twelve and half pounds of marijuana and eight pounds of hashish.
Population: 164,157
Regular Users: 10.8%
Pot Culture: 6 out of 10
Arrests per 100,000 residents: 564
NORML chapter?: Yes
Loyal Royalty: Psychedelic funk master George Clinton.
(Update: This item originally reported Tallahassee does not have a NORML chapter.)
Population: 1,634,795
Regular Users: 10.1%
Pot Culture: 5 out of 10
Arrests per 100,000 residents: 656
NORML chapter?: Yes
Busted: New York is the marijuana arrest capital of the world, with more than
400,000 arrests on minor possession charges from 1997 to 2007.
Population: 613,086
Regular Users: 9.7%
Pot Culture: 9 out of 10
Arrests per 100,000 residents: 276
NORML chapter?: Yes
4/20 Celebration:
Activist Dan Gervais will begin walking across the country to raise awareness about marijuana legalization, starting in Boston on 4/20.
Population: 798,176
Regular Users: 10.0%
Pot Culture: 10 out of 10
Arrests per 100,000 residents: 184
NORML chapter?: Yes
4/20 Celebration: Everywhere, but notably
Hippie Hill. Did we mention everywhere?
Population: 551,226
Regular Users: 10.9%
Pot Culture: 10 out of 10
Arrests per 100,000 residents: 164
NORML chapter?: Yes
Pothead hangout: The Cannabis Café is believed to be the nation’s first smoke-in medical marijuana dispensary. "Our plans go beyond serving food and marijuana,"
said Madeline Martinez, Oregon's executive director of NORML. "We hope to have classes, seminars, even a Cannabis Community College, based here to help people learn about growing and other uses for cannabis."
Population: 83,569
Regular Users: 11.3%
Pot Culture: 6 out of 10
Arrests per 100,000 residents: 198
NORML chapter?: No
Academics: Home of California State University - Chico and
“The Great Debate” a CSU-municipal partnership that this year will discuss legalizing marijuana.
Population: 571,293
Regular Users: 8.8%
Pot Culture: 10 out of 10
Arrests per 100,000 residents: 234
NORML chapter?: Yes
Loyal Royalty: Vivian McPeak, co-founder of
Seattle Hempfest.
Population: 38,989
Regular Users: 11.4%
Pot Culture: 8 out of 10
Arrests per 100,000 residents: 119
NORML chapter?: No
Loyal Royalty: Jam rock band Phish. And don't forget the 4/20 pre-screening of
Phish 3-D.
Population: 808,398
Regular Users: 9.8%
Pot Culture: 5 out of 10
Arrests per 100,000 residents: 236
NORML chapter?: Yes
Pothead Hangout: Michigan is new to the medical marijuana game, and nearby Ypsilanti is home to one of the state’s first dispensaries. Royal Oak officials were
considering allowing dispensaries last year.
Population: 90,511
Regular Users: 9.9%
Pot Culture: 1 out of 10
Arrests per 100,000 residents: 528
NORML chapter?: No
Pothead Hangout:
Bomber’s Burrito Bar.
Population: 63,591
Regular Users: 9.7%
Pot Culture: 6 out of 10
Arrests per 100,000 residents: 204
NORML chapter?: No
Busted: A major investigation that came to a head last year found that at least 500 pounds of pot
linked to a Mexican drug cartel and distributed by the Iron Horse motorcycle gang was being funneled through a ranch outside of Portland.
Population: 358,896
Regular Users: 8.8%
Pot Culture: 6 out of 10
Arrests per 100,000 residents: 301
NORML chapter?: No
Pothead Hangout: Open spaces and abandoned lots. Wild marijuana is growing like a weed in unkempt spots in the Minneapolis area. "It's all over the place,"
according to Sheriff Rich Stanek.
Population: 278,716
Regular Users: 10.4%
Pot Culture: 7 out of 10
Arrests per 100,000 residents: 72
NORML chapter?: No
Legal high: “Lawyer Irwin Ravin (who died
Population: 30,627
Regular Users: 8.6%
Pot Culture: 6 out of 10
Arrests per 100,000 residents: 476
NORML chapter?: No
Academics: Ithaca College lands at 11th in the nation for marijuana use, according to The Princeton Review's annual "Reefer Madness" ranking. Cornell helps Ithaca's ranking, too.
Population: 446,530
Regular Users: 9.3%
Pot Culture: 8 out of 10
Arrests per 100,000 residents: 158
NORML chapter?: No
Loyal Royalty: Short-story author Raymond Carver was
famously dependent on several substances, including marijuana.
Population: 26,306
Regular Users: 8.8%
Pot Culture: 6 out of 10
Arrests per 100,000 residents: 252
NORML chapter?: No
Academics: Home to West Virginia University, which ranks No. 17 in the nation for marijuana use, according to The Princeton Review's annual "Reefer Madness" ranking.
Population: 137,701
Regular Users: 9.0%
Pot Culture: 1 out of 10
Arrests per 100,000 residents: 554
NORML chapter?: No
Busted: An anonymous tip led police earlier this month to an elaborate marijuana-growing operation inside a Syracuse apartment. Confiscated items included lamps, heaters and 23 marijuana plants that were "very well groomed with large buds," police
said .
Population: 92,871
Regular Users: 7.9%
Pot Culture: 10 out of 10
Arrests per 100,000 residents: 323
NORML chapter?: Yes
Academics: The University of Colorado at Boulder ranks No. 5 in the nation for marijuana use, according to The Princeton Review's annual "Reefer Madness" ranking. Of course, the school also has its annual 4/20 smokeout in the form of a gathering involving upwards of 15,000 students, accompanied by a mysterious
cloud.
Population: 804,536
Regular Users: 8.0%
Pot Culture: 6 out of 10
Arrests per 100,000 residents: 978
NORML chapter?: No
Busted: Police in Jacksonville Beach seized a small fortune in marijuana last year. About $500,000 worth of pot in the form of 377 plants was being stored in an empty business, which police confiscated on a tip. The state has been
cracking down on distribution in the past five years, with harsher penalties for major dealers.
Population: 48,104
Regular Users: 8.6%
Pot Culture: 7 out of 10
Arrests per 100,000 residents: 290
NORML chapter?: No
Pothead hangout: The
THC Ministry, which preaches that there are, in fact, two higher powers.
Population: 31,609
Regular Users: 9.5%
Pot Culture: 1 out of 10
Arrests per 100,000 residents: 299
NORML chapter?: No
Loyal Royalty: Horror novelist and legalization proponent Stephen King.
Population: 64,040
Regular Users: 8.5%
Pot Culture: 8 out of 10
Arrests per 100,000 residents: 275
NORML chapter?: No
Legal high: Since 2007 medical marijuana has been legal in New Mexico. Patients can have up to six ounces of marijuana and four mature plants.
Population: 30,732
Regular Users: 9.6%
Pot Culture: 7 out of 10
Arrests per 100,000 residents: 81
NORML chapter?: No
Legal high: Alaska residents continue to enjoy lax possession laws, with no penalty for having one ounce or less in a residence, with or without a prescription.
Population: 45,196
Regular Users: 9.7%
Pot Culture: 1 out of 10
Arrests per 100,000 residents: 220
NORML chapter?: No
Pothead Hangout:
Panini Grill.
Population: 471,227
Regular Users: 8.6%
Pot Culture: 10 out of 10
Arrests per 100,000 residents: 152
NORML chapter?: No
Academics: The birthplace of the Tax Cannibis movement, Oakland is also the location of Oaksterdam University, where students have been learning to grow pot since 2007.
Population: 35,538
Regular Users: 8.7%
Pot Culture: 8 out of 10
Arrests per 100,000 residents: 168
NORML chapter?: No
Scientific seed: A chemist and a physician are set to open a marijuana lab in Bozeman this month to test the potency of marijuana used for medicinal purposes. "For 5,000 years, people have just done this by trial and error, but it doesn't have to be that way anymore," said Dr. Michael Geci-Black, owner of Montana Botanical Analysis and one of the doctors
behind the lab. It took the duo five months to find a building owner willing to lease space for the venture.
Population: 1,448,911
Regular Users: 7.9%
Pot Culture: 6 out of 10
Arrests per 100,000 residents: 515
NORML chapter?: Yes
Legal High: The city of cheesesteaks and the Liberty Bell is also the first Pennsylvania city to decriminalize marijuana.
Population: 36,651
Regular Users: 9.3%
Pot Culture: 1 out of 10
Arrests per 100,000 residents: 278
NORML chapter?: No
Legislative Buzz: A referendum last November to expand the state's medical marijuana law to include more qualifying conditions passed with 58 percent of the vote.
Population: 42,385
Regular Users: 8.6%
Pot Culture: 1 out of 10
Arrests per 100,000 residents: 351
NORML chapter?: Yes
Legislative Buzz: NY Patients First and marijuanadoctors.com made Binghampton the launch site of a statewide billboard campaign to support medical marijuana.
Population: 149,586
Regular Users: 9.6%
Pot Culture: 1 out of 10
Arrests per 100,000 residents: 194
NORML chapter?: No
Cannabis community: The central corridor of Massachusetts is the location of several universities with counterculture traditions. Last Saturday, Amherst Town Common, located just 20 miles north of Springfield, held the 19th annual Extrava"ganja" pot rally.
Population: 117,687
Regular Users: 7.9%
Pot Culture: 8 out of 10
Arrests per 100,000 residents: 408
NORML chapter?: No
Academics: Gainesville is home to the University of Florida as well as "Gainesville Green," a particularly dank strain of pot.
Population: 169,635
Regular Users: 9.3%
Pot Culture: 1 out of 10
Arrests per 100,000 residents: 194
NORML chapter?: No
Legal high: Last summer, Rhode Island became the first state to allow state-licensed dispensaries to distribute marijuana to patients; other states do not have a regulated distribution system.
Population: 299,577
Regular Users: 7.9%
Pot Culture: 6 out of 10
Arrests per 100,000 residents: 337
NORML chapter?: No
Busted: Last week, Juan Perez-Garcia was pulled over just outside of Cincinnati for speeding. Cops found 53.5 pounds of marijuana in his trunk—the largest bust in local history. "The only thing he was missing was a sign that said, "I have dope in here,'"
said Detective Norb Koopman.
Population: 40,687
Regular Users: 8.1%
Pot Culture: 6 out of 10
Arrests per 100,000 residents: 209
NORML chapter?: No
Legislative Buzz: New Hampshire is one of the most intense battlegrounds for decriminalization of marijuana, helped by the student populations of Granite State College and the University of New Hampshire. A recent rally culminated in
three arrests.
Population: 445,709
Regular Users: 7.7%
Pot Culture:4 out of 10
Arrests per 100,000 residents: 539
NORML chapter?: Yes
Pothead hangout: CAMP headquarters - Campaign Against Marijuana Prohibition.
(Update: This item originally reported Atlanta does not have a NORML chapter; the update increased Atlanta’s rank by two slots.)
Population: 122,986
Regular Users: 7.9%
Pot Culture: 6 out of 10
Arrests per 100,000 residents: 223
NORML chapter?: No
Legislative Buzz: Senator Robert Kane (R-CT) proposed legislation earlier this year that would allow the state to tax illegal marijuana sales, as permitted by a 1991 state law. A similar bill he proposed last year was squashed by the state's Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee.
Population: 175,906
Regular Users: 8.3%
Pot Culture: 5 out of 10
Arrests per 100,000 residents: 172
NORML chapter?: No
Legal high: Oxnard's City Council unanimously voted on March 30 to permit medical marijuana dispensaries to operate within city limits. “In Ventura County, we are proud to be ‘The City That Cares,’ ”
said Mayor Pro Tem Andres Herrera. “We care about those Oxnard residents who may be disabled or suffering from cancer. By allowing dispensaries to operate freely in Oxnard, they can have better access to their medical needs.”
Population: 46,800
Regular Users: 7.9%
Pot Culture: 7 out of 10
Arrests per 100,000 residents: 180
NORML chapter?: No
Academics: Home to Wesleyan University, which ranks No. 18 in the nation for marijuana use, according to The Princeton Review's annual "Reefer Madness" ranking.
Population: 259,143
Regular Users: 7.6%
Pot Culture: 1 out of 10
Arrests per 100,000 residents: 512
NORML chapter?: Yes
Loyal Royalty: Rick James, funk crooner behind musical ode to Marijuana "Mary Jane."
