The DEA report shows that marijuana was arrested and confiscated in 2020

Data recently released by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency shows that federal law enforcement officers and their state and local partners confiscated more than 4.5 million marijuana plants in 2020, a figure nearly up from 2019 20% has increased. The annual DEA report also shows that federal law enforcement officials made nearly 5,000 cannabis-related arrests in 2020, a year ravaged by the social and economic fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to data published in the DEA Domestic Cannabis Eradication / Suppression Program Statistical Report, approximately 4.54 million cannabis plants were seized and exterminated in 2020, up from approximately 4 million plants in 2019. The total number is more than 3.7 Millions of cannabis plants seized 4,151 outdoor areas and more than 830,000 plants were seized from 1,286 indoor growers.

“In 2020, the DEA continued its nationwide cannabis eradication efforts and provided resources to support the 127 state and local law enforcement agencies actively participating in the program,” the agency wrote on its website. “This support enables the improvement of already aggressive eradication enforcement activities across the country.”

The data in the DEA report also showed that law enforcement officers made nearly 5,000 federal arrests for marijuana-related crimes in 2020. That number is up slightly from 2019, when 4,718 people were arrested by agents for federal crimes against marijuana.

California recorded the largest percentage of both arrests and seized cannabis plants in the country, a trend that has continued from previous years. In 2020, approximately 82% of the cannabis plants seized and 40% of the marijuana-related arrests nationwide occurred in California. Nationwide, agents seized more than $ 41 million in assets related to the DEA’s 2020 marijuana eradication efforts.

DEA report shows The federal government’s efforts to ban the law will continue despite reforms at the state level

Paul Armentano, the deputy director of the National Organization for the Reform of the Marijuana Law (NORML), said in a press release that the federal prosecution of cannabis-related crimes continues despite strong support for marijuana legalization.

“While marijuana enforcement may not have the same priority as it used to be for the DEA – likely due to changes in state policy and federal budgetary guidelines – that doesn’t mean the agency is content with looking the other way around federal marijuana violations “Said Armentano. “There are still several thousand Americans arrested each year for federal marijuana violations – even at a time when seven in ten Americans believe the plant should be legal for adults to use and use have.”

Marijuana arrest and seizure data is compiled annually as part of the DEA’s Domestic Cannabis Elimination / Suppression Program (DCE / SP), the only nationwide law enforcement program aimed solely at drug trafficking organizations involved in cannabis cultivation . The DCE / SP began funding marijuana eradication programs in Hawaii and California in 1979 and rapidly expanded to programs in 25 states by 1982. By 1985, all 50 states were participating in the DEA program.

Last year, a DEA report noted that “nationwide efforts to eradicate cannabis have continued and resources have been allocated to support the 130 state and local law enforcement agencies actively participating in the program. This support enables the improvement of already aggressive eradication enforcement activities across the country. “

The numbers for marijuana-related arrests and crops seized in recent years have decreased significantly from a decade ago. In 2011, federal agents and their partners confiscated 8.7 million plants and arrested more than 8,500 people. Armentano said last year that the decline over the past 10 years was due to cannabis policy reform.

“After statewide legalization of adult cannabis laws went into effect, both DEA-related arrests and seizures have decreased dramatically,” Armentano said. “Even so, these sums confirm that targeting unregulated marijuana-related cultivation activities still remains a DEA priority, even at a time when most Americans have made it clear they want cannabis policy to become one completely different direction. “