As more states pass laws legalizing marijuana, arrests for cannabis are dropping considerably, a new report from an advocacy organization shows, not surprisingly. But it also makes the case that there is still work to be done as tens of thousands of people continue to be put in handcuffs every year in the U.S. over something that is now legal in nearly half the states.
Using data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the new Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) analysis tracks cannabis enforcement trends in states that have enacted reform and those that have not—showing a “wide gap between legalization and prohibition states,” according to the group’s press release.
“With cannabis legal and regulated, we anticipated that arrest rates for possession, manufacturing, and sales would plummet as demand shifted to the legal, regulated market,” the report says. “The data backs that up.”
The group released the report on Monday, known as the unofficial cannabis holiday 4/20.
It shows that there have been more than 21 million cannabis arrests in the U.S. since 1995, but that the trend is very much on the decline as more legalization laws come online.
“Annual cannabis arrests in the United States (including the District
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