Police in Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin made well over 100,000 marijuana-related arrests in 2024, according to data provided by the FBI’s Crime Data Explorer. The overwhelming majority of those arrested were charged with low-level marijuana possession — not cultivation, trafficking, or sales.
Texas led the nation in marijuana-related arrests. Texas police made over 26,000 cannabis possession arrests in 2024. Ninety-seven percent of all marijuana-related arrests in the state were for simple possession. Under Texas law, low-level cannabis possession is classified as a criminal misdemeanor, punishable by up to 180 days incarceration and a $2,000 fine.
Earlier this year, Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton sued several Texas cities, including Dallas, to nullify voter-approved municipal ordinances decriminalizing minor marijuana possession offenses.
Police in Tennessee and Pennsylvania each recorded more than 11,000 marijuana possession arrests in 2024. Tennessee law imposes up to one year in jail for first-time marijuana possession offenders. Pennsylvania law punishes cannabis possession offenders with up to 30 days in jail, though many cities have enacted local decriminalization ordinances.
Police in North Carolina and Wisconsin each reported making just shy of 11,000 marijuana possession arrests. In Wisconsin, over half of all drug-related arrests in 2024 were marijuana-related.
Law enforcement in the three remaining states each reported making over 9,500 cannabis possession arrests. In Louisiana, nearly 60 percent of all drug-related arrests in 2024 were marijuana-related — the highest percentage of any state in the nation.
Commenting on the data, NORML’s Deputy Director Paul Armentano said: “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.
“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. 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.”
A state-by-state breakdown of 2024 marijuana arrest data is available from NORML.
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