Ten states accounted for roughly 60% of all marijuana-related arrests reported nationwide in 2025, according to an analysis released by NORML using data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Police in Texas, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Georgia, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Indiana, Louisiana and Alabama collectively made more than 131,000 marijuana-related arrests last year. Nationwide, law enforcement agencies reported at least 218,152 marijuana arrests.

Texas recorded the highest number, with more than 29,000 arrests, representing approximately 14% of the national total. NORML’s analysis found that 98% of those arrests involved marijuana possession rather than sales or manufacturing.

North Carolina reported 12,733 marijuana arrests, followed by Georgia with 12,247, Pennsylvania with 12,238, Tennessee with 12,099 and Wisconsin with 12,050. In each of those states, at least 90% of the arrests involved possession.

Louisiana stood out for the share of its overall drug enforcement activity involving marijuana. More than 62% of all drug-related arrests reported in the state during 2025 were for marijuana possession, the highest percentage in the country.

By comparison, marijuana possession arrests have fallen to historically low levels in several states that allow recreational sales. Alaska reported 92 possession arrests, Maine reported 96, Montana reported 35, Rhode Island reported 99 and Vermont reported just 16.

“Today, the threat of arrest for cannabis possession largely comes down to geography,” NORML’s Deputy Director Paul Armentano said. “In nearly half the states in this country, low-level marijuana arrests have fallen nearly to zero. Elsewhere in America, police continue to disrupt hundreds of thousands of lives and waste countless tax dollars and prosecutorial resources on activities that most Americans no longer believe ought to be a crime and that, throughout much of the United States, no longer is.”