Politics
Marijuana Activist Group Asks People To Share Their Arrest Stories To Show The ‘True Impact’ Of Criminalization
As the unofficial marijuana holiday know as 4/20 approaches, a leading pro-legalization organization is asking people to share their personal stories about being arrested for cannabis, saying that doing so can help shine a spotlight on “the true impact of the ongoing scourge of prohibition.”
The Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) said in an email alert to its supporters that the organization is preparing to release a new report on cannabis arrests and that it is “vitally important” that the document not just compile raw data on enforcement but also “include the real human stories that illustrate the harmful impact that prohibition and criminalization have on individuals, families, and communities.”
The group’s email directs supporters to an online form where they can enter details about their cannabis-related law enforcement encounters and specify whether or not they are comfortable having their full names associated with their stories in MPP’s report.
“Consider including details on what happened during and after the arrest(s), and how prohibition and criminalization have impacted your life,” the form prompts.
MPP is also inviting people who haven’t been arrested themselves to share details about incidents involving their friends and loved ones.
“While cannabis arrests have been in decline nationally in recent years, there are still more than 200,000 arrests every year, which result in trauma, disruption, and derailed lives,” the organization’s email to supporters says.
Data released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation late last year show that nearly 188,000 people were arrested over marijuana possession in the U.S. in 2024. Another 16,000 people were booked for allegedly selling or growing cannabis that year.
Of all drug possession arrests in the country, 27 percent were for marijuana—more than for any other specifically listed substance.
An analysis of the data by the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) concluded that marijuana arrests are driving the overall war on drugs in states where cannabis remains illegal.
The organization focused on 14 states in particular. In five of those states (Idaho, Iowa, Louisiana, Nebraska and Wisconsin), marijuana accounted for more than 50 percent of total drug-related arrests last year.
For the other nine states (Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi, North Dakota, South Carolina, Utah and Wyoming), cannabis constituted a plurality of more than 40 percent of drug-related arrests.
Notably, the FBI data, which are compiled from submissions to the agency by local and state law enforcement, show that more than 97 percent of cannabis arrests in Alabama, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and Wyoming were over possession, rather than trafficking or sales.
NORML, meanwhile, is asking cannabis consumers to take a survey about the freedoms (or lack thereof) that they experience where they live.
The survey is “designed to capture real-time sentiment from cannabis consumers across the United States and beyond, offering a snapshot of how individuals experience cannabis policy in their daily lives,” the group said.
