According to new data released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), marijuana arrests increased slightly last year.
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Despite recreational marijuana being legalized in 23 states and medical marijuana legalized in over a dozen more, marijuana arrests saw an uptick between 2021 and 2022.
According to the FBI, there were 227,108 people arrested for a marijuana-related charge in 2022. Around 209,000 of these were for simple possession. Arrests in 2022 were 3.47% higher than in 2021.
The actual number of arrests for both years is unquestionably higher, given that 17% of law enforcement agencies do not report data to the federal government. The agencies that do report data make up about 75% of the country’s total population, meaning the total number of arrests is likely much closer to 300,000.
Although arrests were up slightly in 2022 from the year prior, it marks a 73% decrease from the high of 870,000 in 2007, five years prior to any state legalizing recreational marijuana.
According to federal survey data, funded by the National Institutes of Health and conducted by the University of Michigan, 44% of those 19 to 30 have used marijuana in the past year, while 29% have used it in the past month. Among those aged 35 to 50, 28% have consumed marijuana in the past year, 17% in the past month and 7% use marijuana daily. All three numbers are all-time highs.
Although there is currently no federal legislation aimed at legalizing marijuana that is gaining any significant traction, a bill to allow marijuana banking is cosponsored by over 30% of the entire US Senate, and it was recently approved by the Senate Banking Committee.
