WAGHINGTON – Law enforcement officials made well over 200,000 arrests for marijuana-related violations in 2023, according to data compiled by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation and posted on its Crime Data Explorer website.
According to the online database, which was updated this week with data for the year 2023, police made at least 217,150 arrests for marijuana violations last year. This total is a slight decline from 2022, when the agency reported 227,108 total marijuana-related arrests. Of those charged with violating marijuana laws in 2023, 84 percent (200,306) were charged with possession only.
However, this total is an underestimate because some law enforcement agencies fail to report their data to the FBI. For example, in 2022, 17 percent of agencies — representing 25 percent of the total US population — failed to report crime data to the FBI. For 2023, the agency reported that they received data from local agencies representing over 90 percent of the US population.
In addition, the FBI identified another 53,490 arrests in 2023 for “unspecified drug abuse violations.” It is not clear what percentage, if any, of these were for marijuana.
In all, some 25 percent of all “specified” drug-related arrests reported to the FBI in 2023 were for cannabis-related violations.
Marijuana arrests peaked in the United States in 2007, when police made over 870,000 marijuana-related arrests. At that time, just under half (48 percent) of all drug-related arrests in the United States were for marijuana-related violations. (The FBI changed the way they collected and reported crime data in 2021 making it difficult to compare more recent datasets with those of prior years.)
“While there has clearly been a longterm decline in the total number of marijuana-related arrests nationwide, it is discouraging that there are significant gaps in the available information,” said NORML’s Deputy Director Paul Armentano. “At a time when voters and their elected officials nationwide are re-evaluating state and federal marijuana policies, it is inconceivable that government agencies are unable to produce more explicit data on the estimated costs and scope of marijuana prohibition in America.”
In addition to the incomplete FBI data, Armentano acknowledged that annual data on federal marijuana arrests and seizures by the US Drug Enforcement Administration and its partners has not been provided for 2023. That data is typically published by the DEA in the spring of the following year.
He added, “Nonetheless, even from this incomplete data set, it remains clear that marijuana-related prosecutions remain a primary driver of drug war enforcement in the United States. Hundreds of thousands of Americans continue to be arrested annually for low-level cannabis-related violations even though a majority of voters no longer believe that the responsible use of marijuana by adults should be a crime.”
Since 2012, 24 states and the District of Columbia have legalized adult-use marijuana possession. Voters in Florida, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota will decide on on marijuana legalization ballot measures in November.
About NORML
NORML advocates for changes in public policy so that the responsible possession and use of marijuana by adults is no longer subject to criminal penalties. NORML further advocates for a regulated commercial cannabis market so that activities involving the for-profit production and retail sale of cannabis and cannabis products are safe, transparent, consumer-friendly, and are subject to state and/or local licensure. Finally, NORML advocates for additional changes in legal and regulatory policies so that those who use marijuana responsibly no longer face either social stigma or workplace discrimination, and so that those with past criminal records for marijuana-related violations have the opportunity to have their records automatically expunged.
