The legalization of cannabis for non-medical use has followed a continuum driven by the progressive normalization of its use – a process that has also influenced developments elsewhere

• As of December 2025, Canada, Uruguay and 28 jurisdictions in the United States had enacted legal provisions, either through legislative measures or by popular ballot, allowing the cultivation, production, sale and possession of cannabis for non-medical use.
• Most of the jurisdictions in Canada and the United States where the non-medical use of cannabis has been legalized now allow its for-profit cultivation, production, possession, and sale of cannabis products.
• In Uruguay, there is a partially controlled, State-regulated retail market with limited commercialization.
• In recent years other regulatory approaches have been adopted that allow adults access to cannabis for non-medical use without developing a full commercial supply chain of cannabis.
• The regulatory initiatives that legalized the cannabis supply chain for non-medical purposes, as in some jurisdictions in North America, have followed a continuum driven by processes, for instance by allowing the medical use of cannabis. This has led to an apparent increase in the social acceptability and normalization of cannabis use, not only in the jurisdictions that have legalized the non-medical use of cannabis, but also in other jurisdictions