Washington, DC: Police made an estimated 693,481 arrests for violations of marijuana laws in 2013 according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s annual Uniform Crime Report. The total is some 56,000 fewer arrests than were reported in 2012 and continues a consistent decline since 2007, when police made a record 872,721 arrests for marijuana-related offenses.
According to the report, marijuana arrests in 2013 comprised just over 40 percent of the 1.5 million annual illicit drug arrests in the United States. In 2012, marijuana arrests comprised over 48 percent of the nation’s annual drug arrests.
As in previous years, the vast majority of cannabis-specific arrests – 88 percent, or about 609,000 arrests – involved simple marijuana possession, not marijuana manufacturing or sales.
Recently enacted changes in law in Colorado and Washington resulted in approximately 16,000 fewer marijuana arrests in those states in 2013.
For more information, please contact Allen St. Pierre, NORML Executive Director, or Erik Altieri, NORML Communications Director, at (202) 483-5500.