Federal law enforcement agents seized more than five million marijuana plants in 2024 and made nearly 6,000 marijuana-related arrests, according to annual data compiled by the Drug Enforcement Administration.
According to figures published in the DEA’s Domestic Cannabis Eradication/Suppression Program Statistical Report, federal agents and their partners confiscated approximately 5.3 million cultivated cannabis plants last year. That total is slightly below figures reported by the agency for the years 2022 (5.7 million) and 2021 (5.5 million). (The agency failed to publicly release seizure totals for 2023 in a timely manner and it still has not yet provided comprehensive data for that year.)
Of the thousands of grow operations interdicted by the agency, the DEA characterized 15 of them as Chinese-affiliated. In recent years, members of law enforcement and others have alleged that Chinese drug trafficking organizations are becoming increasingly prevalent in domestic cannabis production — though the 2024 DEA data appears to be inconsistent with those claims.
Between 2011 and 2020, marijuana crop seizures by the DEA and their partners fell nearly 33 percent, before rising in 2021 and 2022. Marijuana-related arrests by federal agents also declined sharply during this time, from 8,501 in 2011 to fewer than 5,000 in 2020, before also rising in 2021. For 2024, the agency reported making 5,764 marijuana-related arrests. (These federal arrests are categorized separately from marijuana-related arrests made by state and local law enforcement. In 2023, the last year for state-level arrests data is available, the FBI reported 217,150 arrests for marijuana violations.)
“Despite most of the public endorsing legalization and most states now having legalized cannabis for patients or adults, considerable time and resources still remain prioritized toward enforcing the failed policy of federal marijuana prohibition and prosecuting those who violate outdated and ineffective federal cannabis laws,” NORML’s Deputy Director Paul Armentano said.
The DCE/SP began funding eradication programs in Hawaii and California in 1979. Last year, 35 states participated in the program.
Archived reports appear on DEA.gov.
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