US Marijuana Policies Lead to Hundreds of Thousands of Arrests a Year

image
Author: Lucas Eaves
Created: 30 May, 2013
Updated: 14 Oct, 2022
1 min read

Despite being the most commonly used drug in the United States, with over 100 million Americans admitting to trying marijuana a least once, marijuana laws affect hundreds of thousands of people negatively every year.

In 2009, 858,000 people were arrested for marijuana-related offenses and in 88 percent of these arrests, the culprit was charged with possession only. In 2011, half of the 1.5 million arrests for drug-related offenses were for marijuana.

Not only are current marijuana policies affecting the hundreds of thousands of Americans who use marijuana, but these policies are costing an estimated $10 billion per year to the American taxpayers.

At a time when federal and state governments are cutting their budgets, should we reconsider marijuana policies?

The following infographic was provided by MacGregor & Collins, LLP.

Credit: MacGregor & Collins, LLP

US marijuana policies

Latest articles

Rand Paul
Why Rand Paul Calls Trump's Tariffs a Harmful Tax on Americans
Republican Senator Rand Paul has once again voiced his strong opposition to tariffs imposed by former President Donald Trump and has joined a handful of Republicans willing to vote against them in the Senate....
03 Apr, 2025
-
2 min read
Hand sticking ballot in ballot box.
Same Election: Voter ID Wins Big; GOP Loses Big
Many have seen the story out of Wisconsin: Susan Crawford defied record-breaking spending by Super PACs to win the April 1 state Supreme Court election. “Crawford beat Musk,” is the headline after the world’s richest man poured millions into the race to defeat her, while liberal billionaires also opened up their own pocketbooks for Crawford....
03 Apr, 2025
-
3 min read
Image of a gavel and legal professionals at a desk.
A Recent Court Decision Could Reshape the Legal Battle over Closed Primaries
Litigation is often seen as a zero-sum game of wins and losses. In that lens, a recent 11th Circuit decision that upholds Florida’s closed primary system has been declared another win for political parties and closed primaries. But it’s the wrong framing....
03 Apr, 2025
-
4 min read