The Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) is calling on supporters to submit personal accounts of cannabis-related arrests ahead of the 4/20 holiday, as the organization prepares a report it says must go beyond raw enforcement figures to capture human experience.
MPP's email to supporters stated that the forthcoming report should "include the real human stories that illustrate the harmful impact that prohibition and criminalization have on individuals, families, and communities." Supporters are directed to an online form to describe their encounters with law enforcement and indicate whether they consent to having their full names used in the published report. Those who haven't been arrested personally can also submit accounts involving friends or family.
The form asks participants to "Consider including details on what happened during and after the arrest(s), and how prohibition and criminalization have impacted your life."
The email further noted that "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."
FBI data released late last year show that nearly 188,000 people were arrested for marijuana possession in the U.S. in 2024, with another 16,000 booked for selling or growing cannabis. Marijuana accounted for 27 percent of all drug possession arrests nationally—more than any other individually named substance.
A separate analysis by the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) concluded that cannabis arrests are driving drug enforcement in the 14 states where marijuana remains illegal. In five of those states—Idaho, Iowa, Louisiana, Nebraska, and Wisconsin—marijuana exceeded 50 percent of all drug-related arrests. In nine others—Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi, North Dakota, South Carolina, Utah, and Wyoming—cannabis made up more than 40 percent. Across Alabama, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming, more than 97 percent of cannabis arrests were for possession rather than sales or trafficking.
NORML is also running a survey of cannabis consumers across the U.S. and beyond, designed to capture "real-time sentiment" on how individuals experience cannabis policy in their daily lives.
