FBI: Over 200K Cannabis Arrests in 2023, Racial Enforcement Disparity Continues – Ganjapreneur | Where to order Skittles Moonrock online

According to the FBI, in 2023, U.S. police made more than 217,000 arrests related to marijuana offenses. Of those, 84 percent were for possession. New data FBI. Although this is a slight drop from the previous year when over 227,000 marijuana-related arrests were reported by the FBI, advocates say that the numbers are still unacceptable, given the growing support for legalization.

The new data also shows that racial disparities are still a problem. According to the data, Black Americans, who make up about 13.6 percent in the U.S., will account for 29 percent of all drug arrests by 2023. This is consistent with the long-standing evidence that people who are of color are disproportionately convicted for cannabis-related crimes, even though their usage rates are similar.

Paul Armentano, NORML’s Deputy Director, says that despite the data showing a slight decrease in cannabis arrests compared to the previous year Pointed out The data provided by FBI is incomplete. “At a moment when voters and elected officials are reevaluating state and federal marijuana policy, it’s inconceivable that government organizations are unable to provide more explicit data about the estimated costs and extent of marijuana prohibition in America,” said he. NORML has highlighted a number of issues, including:

• Incomplete reporting: Some law enforcement agencies fail to report crime data to FBI, resulting in an undercount of arrests related to cannabis. In 2023, 10% agencies failed to provide data, which is 6% of U.S. residents.
• Inconsistent data: The FBI’s report contains discrepancies. There are different arrest numbers in different sections, making it difficult to draw consistent conclusions.
• Uncertain Classification Over 53,000 arrests are included in the category “unspecified drug use violations”, making it difficult to determine how many of them involve marijuana.
• Inadequate coverage of federal data: The DEA has not released its annual report on federal marijuana seizures and arrests for 2023, leaving a gap to understand national cannabis enforcement trends.
• Estimation Procedures: The FBI estimates some figures based on data from participating agencies. This means that the total number is not an exact count, but rather an approximation. This complicates the assessment of cannabis enforcement.
• Impact on Policy Incomplete and inconsistent data make it difficult to accurately assess the costs and scale of prohibition. This complicates efforts to reform cannabis laws, and address the criminalization of cannabis.

As the legalization movement gains momentum, there is a growing call to address the injustices in cannabis enforcement. Both current U.S. presidential candidates have called for the legalization of cannabis. A DEA hearing on the proposed reclassification as a Schedule III drug under the Controlled Substances Act will be held on December 2nd.

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