More Than 200,000 Americans Arrested for Marijuana Possession in 2025
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Editorial Dept.
Marijuana remains a major driver of drug enforcement in the United States, even as more states move toward legalization and regulation. New federal data shows that possession accounts for the vast majority of cannabis-related arrests – with Texas reporting the highest number in 2025. The figures highlight the continued gap between shifting public attitudes and the criminal penalties that marijuana users can still face across much of the country.
A press release from Marijuana Lobby NORML revealed that state and local law enforcement made over 200,000 marijuana possession arrests in 2025, citing data compiled by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation and posted on its Crime Data Explorer website.
These account for approximately 23 percent of all drug arrests nationwide, meaning nearly 1 in 4 drug arrest nationwide are for marijuana possession.
According to the online database, police made at least 218,152 total arrests for marijuana-related violations last year. (This total is an underestimate because approximately 13 percent of law enforcement agencies failed to report their arrest data to the FBI for 2025. The total also fails to calculate how many cannabis-related arrests are included in the tens of thousands of “unspecified drug abuse violations” reported by the FBI.)
Consistent with prior years, most of those arrested (92 percent) were charged with low-level marijuana possession. Specifically, police made 200,960 marijuana possession arrests in 2025. The other 17,192 marijuana-related arrests were defined as “sales/manufacturing.” Those totals are up from 2024, when police made approximately 204,000 marijuana-related arrests.
“While the number of marijuana-related arrests has trended downward for the better part of the past decade, in large part due to 24 states legalizing and regulating cannabis for adults, it is clear that marijuana-related prosecutions still remain a primary driver of drug war enforcement in the United States,” NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano said. “Hundreds of thousands of Americans continue to be arrested annually for low-level cannabis-related violations even though a majority of voters no longer believe that the responsible use of marijuana by adults should be a crime.”
He added: “The criminalization of cannabis and the prosecution of those who possess it and consume it is a terribly destructive policy that disrupts lives and has lasting consequences. Low-level marijuana offenders, many of them younger, poor, and people of color, should not be saddled with an arrest, a criminal record, and with the lifelong penalties and stigma associated with it for engaging in behavior that is legally regulated in nearly half the states in this country.”
Like in prior years, Texas leads the nation in marijuana-related arrests. Texas police made over 29,000 marijuana-related arrests in 2025, approximately 14 percent of the national total. Ninety-eight percent of those arrested for marijuana-related violations in Texas were charged with simple possession. Under Texas law, low-level cannabis possession is classified as a criminal misdemeanor, punishable by up to 180 days incarceration and a $2,000 fine.
Four other states reported more than 11,000 marijuana possession arrests in 2025: Georgia (11,238), North Carolina (11,830), Tennessee (11,194), and Wisconsin (11,470). By contrast, five states reported fewer than 100 marijuana possession arrests: Alaska (92), Maine (96), Montana (35), Rhode Island (99), and Vermont (16).
Overall, the FBI reported 858,852 arrests nationwide for drug-related offenses in 2025 – a three percent increase over the previous year.
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. (The FBI changed the way they collected and reported crime data in 2021 making it difficult to compare more recent datasets with those of prior years.)
Since the year 2000, police have made over 16 million marijuana-related arrests in the United States.
Additional information on marijuana-related arrests is available from NORML.
About NORML
NORML advocates for changes in public policy so that the responsible possession and use of marijuana by adults is no longer subject to criminal penalties. NORML further advocates for a regulated commercial cannabis market so that activities involving the for-profit production and retail sale of cannabis and cannabis products are safe, transparent, consumer-friendly, and are subject to state and/or local licensure. Finally, NORML advocates for additional changes in legal and regulatory policies so that those who use marijuana responsibly no longer face either social stigma or workplace discrimination, and so that those with past criminal records for marijuana-related violations have the opportunity to have their records automatically expunged.
Find out more at norml.org and read the NORML Fact Sheets on the most common misconceptions and myths regarding cannabis and cannabis policies.
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