The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) has released their list of the “Top Ten Events in Marijuana Policy” for 2024.
(Photo credit: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg).
Found in 1970, NORML is the oldest marijuana reform group in the nation. Today, they released their list of the most important and impact marijuana-related studies of 2024. Below is that list.
#1: DEA Announces Marijuana Rescheduling Hearing, Judge Sets 2025 Trial Date
The Drug Enforcement Administration’s administrator announced in August that the agency will commence an administrative law hearing on marijuana’s scheduling under the federal Controlled Substances Act. Earlier this month, DEA Administrative Law Judge John Mulrooney ordered witness testimony to begin on Tuesday, January 21, 2025.
Although NORML filed a Notice of Intent to Participate and has been a party to past administrative petition efforts and hearings, it was not among those selected by the DEA to participate. Among those selected, most represent entities that oppose moving cannabis from Schedule I.
Federal health agencies recommended marijuana be moved from Schedule I under federal law to Schedule III in 2024. The Justice Department published a proposed rule in May to change cannabis’ classification.
#2: State Courts Have Expunged Over Two Million Marijuana-Related Convictions
Since 2018, state courts have either expunged or sealed the records of more than 2.3 million marijuana-related cases, according to an analysis released by NORML earlier this year. States that have been most active in providing relief to those with past convictions include California, Illinois, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, and Virginia.
, In states that fail to provide for mass expungements, Governors have issued blanket pardons to hundreds of thousands of residents with marijuana-related convictions. In particular, the Governors of Maryland and Massachusetts issued pardon proclamations in 2024 to residents with prior marijuana convictions.
“Hundreds of thousands of Americans unduly carry the burden and stigma of a past conviction for behavior that most Americans, and a growing number of states, no longer consider to be a crime,” NORML’s Deputy Director Paul Armentano said. “Our sense of justice and our principles of fairness demand that public officials and the courts move swiftly to right the past wrongs of cannabis prohibition and criminalization.”
#3 Federal Data Shows Teen Marijuana Use Has Plunged Over Past Decade
Data provided by the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) in July reported that teenagers are far less likely to report consuming cannabis today than they were nearly a decade ago.
Specifically, the NSDUH data reports that the percentage of those ages 12 to 17 who report having ever tried marijuana fell 18 percent from 2014 to 2023. Those reporting having consumed cannabis during the past year fell 15 percent. The percentage of teens reporting current marijuana use dropped 19 percent.
Separate data released this year by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that the percentage of high-schoolers nationwide who identify as current consumers of cannabis fell 26 percent between 2013 and 2023.
Most recently, federally-commissioned data provided by the University of Michigan’s annual Monitoring the Future survey reported that cannabis use by young people is at a 30-year low.
Commenting on the data in a nationally syndicated op-ed, NORML’s Deputy Director Paul Armentano said, “States’ real-world experience with marijuana legalization proves that these policies can be implemented in a manner that provides regulated access for adults while simultaneously limiting youth access and misuse.”
#4: Trump Voices Support for State-Level Legalization, Says He Will Work With Congress to Advance Federal Reforms
While campaigning in September, President-elect Donald Trump expressed support for state-level marijuana legalization and pledged to work with Congress to enact federal reforms, including SAFER Banking.
In a social media post, Trump declared: “I believe it is time to end needless arrests and incarcerations of adults for small amounts of marijuana for personal use. We must also implement smart regulations, while providing access for adults to [a] safe, tested product.”
He added, “As President, [my administration] will continue to focus on research to unlock the medical uses of marijuana to a Schedule 3 drug, and work with Congress to pass common sense laws, including SAFE banking for state authorized companies, and supporting states’ rights to pass marijuana laws … that work so well for their citizens.”
#5: Marijuana Arrests Fall to 30-Year Low
State and local police made at least 217,150 arrests for marijuana violations last year, according to data compiled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and posted on its Crime Data Explorer website. Not since the early 1990s has the FBI reported so few annual marijuana-related arrests.
Marijuana arrests peaked in the United States in 2007, when police made over 870,000 marijuana-related arrests. At that time, just under half (48 percent) of all drug-related arrests in the United States were for marijuana-related violations.
#6: Older Adults Are Increasingly Consuming Cannabis, CBD Products
More than one in five US adults over the age of 50 report having consumed cannabis in the past year, according to survey data provided by the University of Michigan and AARP. Over 60 percent of older consumers acknowledged using it to relax, help with sleep, or relieve pain.
Separate survey data published in the journal Clinical Gerontologist found that older adults are also more frequently using CBD products . “CBD use is common … in the 65+ age group and positively correlated with both medical and nonmedical cannabis use,” investigators concluded.
Commenting on the trend, NORML’s Deputy Director Paul Armentano said: “It is not surprising that a rising percentage of adults are turning to cannabis and cannabis-related products in their later years. Many older adults struggle with pain, anxiety, restless sleep, and other conditions for which cannabis products often mitigate. Many older adults are also aware of the litany of serious adverse side-effects associated with available prescription drugs, like opioids or sleep aids, and they perceive medical cannabis to be a practical and potentially safer alternative.”
#7 Fentanyl Rarely Ever Identified in Illicit Cannabis Samples
Forensic labs rarely ever identify the presence of fentanyl in illicit cannabis samples, according to an analysis published in October in the journal The Lancet Regional Health – Americas.
Harvard Medical School researchers reviewed drug chemistry results from nearly 12 million samples of illicit substances seized by law enforcement between 2013 and 2023. They identified fentanyl in fewer than two percent of the samples tested.
“Our results show no evidence of widespread fentanyl co-occurrence with cannabis,” the study’s authors concluded, contradicting the long-held stereotype.
#8: Consumers Frequently Report Substituting Cannabis for Alcohol, Other Substances
Most marijuana consumers say that their cannabis consumption reduces their use of alcohol and many also report substituting it for other psychotropic substances, including methamphetamine, morphine, and tobacco, according to survey data published in November in The Harm Reduction Journal.
More than 60 percent of subjects acknowledged that “using cannabis led to ‘less’ alcohol consumption.” More than 40 percent of respondents reported that they substituted marijuana for morphine; 40 percent said that they did so for methamphetamine, and 35 percent acknowledged substituting cannabis for tobacco. Younger adults (ages 21 to 35) were more likely to report engaging in cannabis substitution than were older respondents.
Commenting on the findings, NORML’s Deputy Director Paul Armentano said: “This is an important addition to the growing body of literature suggesting that, in some instances, cannabis may act as an intervention for people seeking to reduce their consumption of alcohol and other intoxicating substances.”
#9: Public Support for Legalizing Marijuana Remains Near Historic High
Sixty-eight percent of US adults say that “the use of marijuana should be legal,” according to nationwide polling data released this year by Gallup. That percentage is among the highest levels of support ever reported by pollsters.
“At a time when voters and politicians are historically divided, there is one issue that Americans largely agree upon: It’s time to legalize marijuana,” NORML’s Political Director Morgan Fox said.
Since 2012, when Colorado and Washington became the first two states to legalize marijuana for adults, public support for legalization has risen nationwide by some 20 percentage points. Legalization has enjoyed majority support among Americans since 2013 and has held steady at around 68 percent since 2020.
#10: State-Legal Cannabis Market Has Largely Eliminated US Demand for Mexican-Grown Marijuana
Seizures of Mexican-grown marijuana have fallen 98 percent over the past decade, according to data published on the US Customs and Border Protection website. The production and exportation of Mexican-grown cannabis has also declined significantly.
The data suggests that the growing state-legal marijuana market in the United States, which began in 2014, has dramatically undercut demand for imported Mexican cannabis.
NORML’s Deputy Director Paul Armentano said, “When it comes to retail cannabis, the prevailing attitude is ‘Buy American.’” He added, “The rise of the regulated state-legal cannabis market has not only supplanted Americans’ demand for Mexican cannabis, but in many places, it has also disrupted the unregulated domestic marketplace.”
