Nearly 188,000 People Arrested for Cannabis Possession in 2024, But FBI Data Raises Questions About Accuracy and Reporting Methods
A Closer Look at the FBI’s Latest Annual Crime Report and Its Findings on Cannabis Arrests
According to the FBI’s newly released 2024 Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) data, nearly 188,000 people were arrested for marijuana possession in the United States last year. An additional 16,000 individuals were booked for allegedly selling or cultivating cannabis, underscoring that marijuana-related enforcement continues to play a major role in the nation’s broader drug policy.
However, while the numbers appear to show a slight decline in cannabis arrests compared to 2023, advocates and analysts warn that the data may not tell the full story. The FBI’s methodology and inconsistent reporting practices have long raised questions about the accuracy of its figures and their usefulness in shaping national drug policy.
Small Declines in Marijuana Arrests Reflect the Gradual Impact of Legalization
The FBI’s report, which analyzed over 14 million criminal offenses reported by law enforcement agencies covering 95.6 percent of the U.S. population, found that marijuana-related arrests fell modestly from 200,306 in 2023 to 187,792 in 2024 for possession. Arrests related to sales or manufacturing dropped from 16,844 to 16,244 during the same period.
For cannabis advocates, these reductions are a sign that state-level legalization movements continue to shift law enforcement priorities. As more states legalize or decriminalize marijuana, the overall rate of possession-related arrests has steadily decreased nationwide.
Paul Armentano, deputy director of NORML, emphasized that while progress is being made, marijuana remains the most common drug-related arrest in the country, highlighting that the war on drugs is far from over. He noted that cannabis-related arrests still represent a significant portion of overall drug enforcement despite legalization in many jurisdictions.
Marijuana Still Leads U.S. Drug Arrests Despite Reform Efforts
Within the FBI’s 2024 dataset, 27 percent of all drug possession arrests were attributed to marijuana. This means that even after years of reform and legalization in nearly half of U.S. states, more people are still arrested for marijuana than for any other controlled substance.
This persistent focus on cannabis enforcement underscores how unevenly federal and state laws interact. In some states, marijuana is fully legal for adult use; in others, possession of even small amounts can still lead to arrest or incarceration.
Discrepancies and Inconsistencies Continue to Undermine FBI Drug Data
Despite being the nation’s most relied-upon source of crime data, the FBI’s reporting on drug arrests remains riddled with inconsistencies. For instance, the agency’s 2024 report lists different totals for the same categories of drug offenses. One table cites 1.4 million “Drug/Narcotic Offenses,” another lists 1.57 million, and a third claims 1.87 million—making it difficult for researchers or policymakers to determine which figure is accurate.
The bureau itself acknowledges that not all local and state law enforcement agencies submit complete data. When this happens, the FBI uses statistical estimation methods to fill in the gaps. While such extrapolation helps maintain nationwide coverage, it also introduces uncertainty into the final numbers—particularly in areas like drug enforcement, where local reporting standards vary widely.
Past Errors and Ongoing Questions About Cannabis Data Reporting
This is not the first time concerns have been raised about the FBI’s cannabis-related data. In 2022, Eric Sterling, a longtime drug reform advocate and former congressional staffer, identified what appeared to be a significant error in Maryland’s data. The state had been reporting marijuana possession citations—which are not arrests—as part of its arrest figures shared with the FBI.
Sterling warned that if other jurisdictions were engaging in similar reporting practices, the national arrest totals could be skewed, painting an inaccurate picture of drug enforcement trends. Although Sterling brought this issue to the Department of Justice (DOJ), the agency deferred the inquiry to internal FBI channels, and no clear resolution or correction was ever published.
The Scope of Drug Enforcement and Shifting Federal Policy
The FBI’s data also highlight broader shifts in national drug enforcement patterns. According to the report, there were approximately 822,488 arrests for drug abuse violations in 2024—accounting for around 12 percent of the nation’s total 7.5 million arrests.
Over the past decade, the number of recorded drug offenses has fallen sharply—from over 1 million in 2015 to about 600,000 in 2024—a decline of roughly 43 percent. Still, the FBI cautions that changes in methodology and agency participation may make year-to-year comparisons unreliable.
Meanwhile, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has indicated that federal marijuana policy remains in a holding pattern. The DEA has yet to complete the long-promised process to reschedule marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act, despite repeated commitments to prioritize the issue.
Former President Donald Trump recently said he would make a decision on the matter “within weeks,” but as of now, the process appears to be stalled. Even if rescheduling occurs, marijuana would remain federally illegal, leaving enforcement and arrest trends largely dependent on evolving state laws and local policing priorities.
Incomplete Reporting Limits Policy Insights and Public Understanding
Ultimately, the accuracy of the FBI’s marijuana arrest data has significant implications for policymakers, journalists, and advocates. Because these statistics inform debates about drug reform and criminal justice policy, incomplete or inconsistent data can mislead public understanding of how cannabis enforcement actually functions in the U.S.
As more states move toward legalization, experts argue that the federal government must modernize its crime reporting systems to ensure reliable and transparent data collection. Until then, the true scale of marijuana-related enforcement—and its decline—will remain difficult to measure with confidence.
Conclusion: Marijuana Arrests Decline, But Data Reliability Remains in Question
While the 2024 FBI report shows a modest decline in marijuana-related arrests, it also exposes the gaps and inconsistencies in federal crime data that continue to complicate national drug policy discussions. The figures suggest progress toward reduced enforcement, yet also reveal that hundreds of thousands of Americans are still being arrested each year for cannabis—a substance that is now legal in much of the country.
As calls for reform grow louder and the federal government weighs rescheduling, the need for transparent, consistent, and accurate reporting on marijuana enforcement has never been more urgent.
