Federal law enforcement officials in 2024 — the last for which data is available — charged fewer than 500 people with marijuana trafficking, according to data provided by the US Sentencing Commission.

The total marks a 93 percent decline in federal marijuana trafficking arrests since 2012, when Colorado and Washington became the first two states to regulate the adult-use marijuana market. Annual data provided by the Sentencing Commission’s Sourcebook on Federal Sentencing Statistics shows that marijuana trafficking arrests have fallen every year since then.

The dramatic decline in federal arrests mimics a similar decade-long decline in marijuana seizures at the southern border. In 2023, federal law enforcement agents intercepted a record low 61,000 pounds of marijuana at the border. That figure represents a 98 percent decline in marijuana-related seizure activity since 2013.

Commenting on the latest federal figures, NORML’s Deputy Director Paul Armentano said, “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.”

He added: “Although Congress has failed to amend federal cannabis laws to explicitly recognize state-legal cannabis markets, the attitudes and priorities of federal law enforcement agents and prosecutors have clearly shifted in a manner that reflects their reality. Now it’s time for Congress to do so by repealing the failed policy of federal marijuana prohibition.”

Among all people charged with federal crimes in 2024, 29 percent were prosecuted for drug-related violations. Of those, less than three percent were charged with marijuana trafficking. By contrast, nearly half of all federal drug offenders were prosecuted for methamphetamine-related activities.

The full text of the US Sentencing Commission’s 2024 annual report is available online.