According to the FBI’s most recent annual crime report (released in January), nearly 188,000 arrests were made for marijuana possession last year. Another 16,000 people were charged with selling or cultivating cannabis. These figures may be understated due to inconsistencies and concerns about federal data.
This data is taken from the Uniform Crime Reporting program (UCR), a tool used for documenting and analyzing national trends in crime. FBI reported that the report covered 95,6 percent of U.S. residents.
The latest statistics show that marijuana-related crimes have decreased slightly since 2023. From 200,306 arrests for possession to 187.792 in 2020, and from 16.844 arrests for sales or manufacture to 16.244.
The reduction in arrests is viewed by advocates as proof of the growing success of state-level marijuana legalization, yet they point out that the most common illegal drug that Americans have been arrested for during the “war on drugs” continues to be marijuana.
“While marijuana arrests in general have decreased over the past few years in the United States, marijuana-related prosecutions remain a main driver for drug war enforcement,” NORML Deputy Direct Paul Armentano explained to MEDCAN24.
Of all drug possession arrests in the new report 27 percent were for marijuana—more than for any other specifically listed substance.
FBI explained that because not all agencies provided complete data, the Bureau calculates an estimated number of crimes, “by using a standard estimate procedure based on the data supplied.” FBI reported 831 446 total arrests in a “drug/narcotic” category.
Despite this, the frustration over FBI’s inconsistency with its data collection on marijuana and other drugs arrests has persisted. In different sections, the FBI report gives different statistics for what appear to be similar types of crimes.
According to a table from the FBI, there will be 1,413,223 “Drug/Narcotic Offenders” by 2024. One table uses 1,577 175 as the total. Another uses the figure of 1,577,175 under the same heading.
A second section states that 822 488 arrests were made for violations of drug laws in 2024. This is about 12% of the estimated 7.5 million arrests across the country.
The FBI data also shows trends over time, indicating that there were 1,055,013 drug offenses charged in 2015 and 600,400 drug offenses charged in 2024—a reduction of about 43 percent, though it’s not clear how much of the change is due to the agency’s shifting methodology for reporting arrests and how much is due to actual changes in enforcement practices and state drug laws over the past decade.
According to the Agency, 386 540 marijuana seizures out of 1 072,704 total drugs seizures represented approximately 36 percent of all enforcement actions.
Researchers, lawmakers and media rely heavily on FBI arrest data to better understand trends in law enforcement. Inconsistencies can affect not only the public’s perception of crime and enforcement but could also influence how policies are crafted.
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.
In 2023—about 14 months after Sterling sent the inquiry—the office finally replied. Rather than address the apparent problem, however, the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Office of the Inspector General’s investigations division said it had “determined that the matters that you raised are more appropriate for review by another office within the DOJ” and referred the inquiry to FBI’s own inspection division.
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. It is the agency’s own statement that some data could not be compared to prior years, due to changes in participation.
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In a recent filing, the Drug Enforcement Administration said the marijuana rescheduling is still stuck at the same stage as it’s been for many months. This despite the fact that the head of the agency had previously promised senators he would give the matter priority if he was confirmed to the position.
In August, President Donald Trump stated that he would make a final decision within weeks on the proposed move of cannabis from Schedule I into Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act.
The federal government would not legalize marijuana through rescheduling, but it is still unclear how this reform will affect the arrest rate included in future FBI annual reports.
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