Medical cannabis access under probation and parole: Removing barriers to doctor-recommended treatment

Executive summary

Nearly four million adults in the United States live under community supervision, either on probation or parole. That is nearly double the combined population of people held in jails and prisons nationwide. These individuals must navigate a web of requirements: regular check-ins with probation officers, court monitoring, and compliance with release conditions that, while often well-intentioned, can be counterproductive for successful reintegration. A single violation, even a technical violation of release conditions that involves no new criminal conduct, such as missing an appointment with a parole officer, can result in automatic reincarceration. 

Many on supervision contend with chronic health conditions requiring ongoing medical attention, including conditions for which state authorities have approved the use of medical marijuana. Although 47 states now permit the use of marijuana for medical purposes, people serving supervision sentences often cannot access this physician-recommended treatment without jeopardizing their liberty. 

This policy brief examines the contradiction that even states that have legalized medical marijuana exclude individuals on probation, parole, or supervised release from accessing this medicine. This exclusion undermines the purpose of marijuana reform by continuing to criminalize access and denying its potential benefits to a population that may need them most. 

This brief also examines the fiscal consequences of supervision violation policies. In 2023, states spent an estimated $3 billion incarcerating individuals for technical violations that included no new criminal conduct, the same category into which a positive marijuana test typically falls. 

The analysis that follows explores state-level policies that offer promising frameworks to address this problem, including statutory protections, court decisions, administrative policies, and treatment court practices. States such as Minnesota, Missouri, Connecticut, New York, and Colorado have enacted laws that protect supervisee access to medical marijuana by requiring individualized assessments before courts can restrict them from the medical marijuana market. Appellate courts in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Arizona have struck down blanket prohibitions on the use of medical marijuana as a condition of release, finding them inconsistent with state medical marijuana statutes. Even without statutory mandates, corrections agencies in Washington, Florida, and Minnesota have adopted policies that permit registered marijuana patients to continue their treatment while under Supervision.

With the federal government now moving to reschedule marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III, the remaining state-level restrictions become increasingly difficult to defend. The medical value of marijuana will be expressly recognized under both state and federal law. Supervision systems designed to support rehabilitation and reentry should not erect barriers to medical care that is legal for all other citizens and may greatly impact their stability and reintegration.

Full policy brief — Medical cannabis access under probation and parole: Removing barriers to doctor-recommended treatment

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