FBI Data: Marijuana Arrests STILL Number 1 Nationally

The Federal Bureau of Investigation annually publishes a UCR, or Uniform Crime Report. It’s a statistical overview of crime and arrests in the United States compiled from reports from the Local, State and Federal Law Enforcement Agencies. Because of the vast volume of data, it takes quite a bit of time and concerted effort to organize the data into comprehensible form. Typically, such reports are at least a year behind. For example, the most recent year for which complete UCR data is available is 2019.

“The FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program counts one arrest for each separate instance in which a person is arrested, cited, or summoned for an offense. The UCR Program collects arrest data on 28 offenses, as described in Offense Definitions.

“Nationwide, law enforcement made an estimated 10,085,207 arrests in 2019. Of these arrests, 495,871 were for violent crimes, and 1,074,367 were for property crimes.

“The highest number of arrests were for drug abuse violations (estimated at 1,558,862 arrests), driving under the influence (estimated at 1,024,508), and larceny-theft (estimated at 813,073).“

– from “Crime in the United States, 2019” the FBI’s annual Uniform Crime Report

Other similarly-related substance misuse/abuse arrests, and their figures are:

Driving under the influence	1,024,508
Liquor laws	175,548
Drunkenness	316,032

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The breakdown, marijuana possession arrests as a percentage of Drug Abuse violations, by region, is:

Drug abuse violations	United States total	Northeast	Midwest	South	West
Possession: Marijuana	32.1	48.2	40.4	39.4	11.3

Arrests for possession of marijuana comprise THE SINGLE GREATEST number of arrests – by far. Arrests for heroin possession account for only 19.6% of all drug possession arrests, while arrests for “Other dangerous nonnarcotic drugs” account for 31.0% of all possession arrests. “Other dangerous nonnarcotic drugs” would include arrests for items like kratom (a plant which is not illegal nationally), khat (a plant), barbiturates, Benzedrine, crystal meth, etc.

Further, with 1,558,862 arrests for Drug Abuse Violations, that category comprises THE single largest category of arrests made in the United States – more even, than Property crime with 1,074,367 arrests, Other assaults with 1,025,711 arrests, and Driving under the influence with 1,024,508 arrests.

The miscellaneous category “All other offenses” with 3,318,453 arrests is greater, but, it’s an “everything else” catch-all category into which every other arrest not categorized is tossed.

Doing the math, 32.1% (arrests for marijuana possession) of 1,558,862 (arrests for drug abuse violations) is 500,395 (rounded up).

Two friends share a joint in Union Square Park during the New York City Cannabis Parade & Rally (NYCCPR).

Two friends share a joint before the parade begins at the New York City Cannabis Parade & Rally (NYCCPR).

The TOTAL costs to society for each marijuana-related arrest are not limited exclusively to arrest, judicial system involvement, penal system (incarceration/parole), etc., but include broken families, lost wages, lost productivity for businesses, and lost tax revenue for the all levels of government, Federal, State, and Local.

A marcher in the New York City Cannabis Parade & Rally (NYCCPR) smokes a joint openly in front of NYPD officers stationed along the parade route.

It’s long overdue to:
1.) Legalize;

2.) Tax, and;

3.) Regulate
the Adult Recreational Use of Marijuana.

Because national Prohibition of alcohol was so successful… right?

Marijuana prohibition has ONLY spawned and grown global crime syndicates, just like national prohibition of beverage alcohol spawned organized crime in America. Only today’s “modern” narcotrafficking crime syndicates are global in scope, and their resources are seemingly unlimited – the extent, magnitude, and scope of which in some cases rival those of of governments.