Marijuana Arrests Are The Primary Driver Of The War On Drugs In States That Still Criminalize It, FBI Data Shows

Marijuana arrests are driving driving the overall war on drugs in states
where cannabis remains illegal, according to a new NORML analysis of FBI
data. And most of those busts are for simple possession.

An examination of arrest data for 2024 in strictly prohibitionist states
and those with limited medical cannabis programs revealed a continuation of
drug war-era criminalization over marijuana—seemingly contradicting reform
opponents’ repeated arguments that cannabis arrests are overstated.

NORML focused on 14 states in particular, analyzing arrest data submitted
to FBI by local and state law enforcement. In five of those states (Idaho,
Iowa, Louisiana, Nebraska and Wisconsin), marijuana accounted for more than
50 percent of total drug-related arrests last year.

For the other nine states (Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi,
North Dakota, South Carolina, Utah and Wyoming), cannabis constituted a
plurality of more than 40 percent of drug-related arrests.

“Marijuana-related prosecutions remain the primary driver of drug war
enforcement in those states where cannabis remains criminalized, whereas,
with few exceptions, marijuana-related arrests fall precipitously in
jurisdictions that legalize and regulate the adult-use cannabis market,”
Paul Armentano, deputy director of NORML, said.

“The perpetuation of cannabis criminalization, and the vigorous enforcement
of this policy by law enforcement in prohibition states, is a financially
burdensome and terribly destructive policy that disrupts lives and has
lasting consequences,” he said.

“Low-level marijuana offenders, many of them younger, poor, and people of
color, should not be saddled with an arrest, a criminal record, and with
the lifelong penalties and stigma associated with it for engaging in
behavior that is now legally regulated for adults in nearly half the states
in this country and that most Americans nationwide no longer believe ought
to be a crime.”

🚨 Marijuana-related prosecutions remain the primary driver of drug war
enforcement in states where cannabis remains criminalized. With few
exceptions, marijuana arrests fall precipitously in jurisdictions that
legalize and regulate the adult-use market. https://t.co/dZb2ck3IEI

— NORML (@NORML) November 5, 2025

Notably, the FBI data shows that more than 97 percent of cannabis arrests
in Alabama, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and Wyoming
were over possession, rather than trafficking or sales.

“By comparison, marijuana-related arrests typically comprise only a small
percentage of arrests in states where personal possession has been
legalized,” NORML said. “For instance, in Arizona, California, Maine,
Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, New Jersey, Vermont, and Washington,
marijuana-related arrests comprised fewer than five percent of all
drug-related arrests in 2024.”


*— Marijuana Moment is tracking hundreds of cannabis, psychedelics and drug
policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon
supporters pledging at least $25/month get access to our interactive maps,
charts and hearing calendar so they don’t miss any developments.*


*Learn more about our marijuana bill tracker and become a supporter on
Patreon to get access. —*

Nearly 188,000 people were arrested over marijuana possession in the U.S.
last year, according to the FBI’s latest annual crime report, and another
16,000 were booked for allegedly selling or growing cannabis. However,
those figures are likely understated given inconsistencies in the federal
data and questions about the agency’s methodology.

The full 2024 data set is based on more than 14 million criminal offenses
reported to the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, which is used to
document and analyze national crime trends. The report covers 95.6 percent
of the U.S. population, FBI said.

This latest data does show that cannabis-related offenses fell slightly
compared to 2023, dropping from 200,306 possession busts to 187,792 in 2024
and from 16,844 sales or manufacturing arrests to 16,244.

Of all drug possession arrests in the new report 27 percent were for
marijuana—more than for any other specifically listed substance.

Apparent errors in FBI marijuana were pointed out to the bureau in May
2022, when a longtime drug reformer and former congressional staffer, Eric
Sterling, claimed to have discovered that a Maryland police department was reporting
cannabis possession citations issued under the state’s decriminalization
law at the time as arrests as part of a data-sharing partnership with FBI.

Since other state and local law enforcement agencies appear to not be
reporting cannabis citations as arrests, Sterling reasoned, the
inconsistent practice could significantly alter FBI’s annual reports—making
it harder to draw reasonable policy conclusions from the data.

FBI’s cannabis enforcement reporting is also compromised by the fact that
local and state police are not required to share data to inform the
agency’s annual report, meaning it offers an incomplete overview of
national law enforcement activities. The agency itself says that certain
data may not be comparable to previous years because of methodological
changes and different levels of participation by agencies over time.

The post Marijuana Arrests Are The Primary Driver Of The War On Drugs In
States That Still Criminalize It, FBI Data Shows appeared first on Marijuana
Moment.