How Many People Are Still In Prison For Cannabis In 2025?

Cannabis legalization efforts have been ongoing for decades, and yet there are still innumerable people without legal access to weed. Unquestionably, efforts will not stop until cannabis prohibition is completely over. But despite all of the gains we’ve made, legalization and the cannabis industry have failed one group of people in particular: cannabis prisoners.

Unfortunately, legalization does not automatically free the people who originally broke prohibition laws, even when the laws no longer exist. At this very moment, people are living in cages under brutally violent conditions for acts that are now fully legal – acts that we may even partake in.

No matter what, we can’t let the convenience of our dispensary delivery apps make us forget about them.

We Don’t Know How Many People Are Imprisoned for Cannabis

Unfortunately – or perhaps by design – nobody knows how many people are still in prison for cannabis in 2025. The Last Prisoner Project (LPP) explains that “the best we can do is dig into a bunch of different publicly-available data sources and make an educated guess.”

One commonly cited statistic is that there are 40,000 cannabis prisoners. This number comes from a Special Report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics. At this point, we can safely say the statistics from a 2004 report (even with the 2007 revision) are outdated.

Recently, the LPP utilized statistics from a 2021 report to develop a new estimate. They compared the 2004 report’s “substance-specific drug offense proportions” to the updated state and federal prison population figures that they gathered. In the end, they reported a rough calculation of 32,000 cannabis prisoners – 22,000 state prisoners and 10,000 federal prisoners. 

READ: Cannabis Prisoners Answer: What Would Justice Look Like?

Of course, there are limitations to this estimate. Even the LPP itself doesn’t often talk about the number, simply because it’s almost impossible to know with certainty. Cannabis arrests are often underreported by law enforcement. Alongside underreporting, the justice system imposes various forms of incarceration that don’t show up in most available statistics, leading to holes in the data. But holes or not, the data most always points towards a much higher number of people still in prison for cannabis in 2025 than previous research has implied. 

Federal reports don’t include prisoners in local and county jails. Similarly, we don’t have data on cannabis prisoners held in correctional facilities or immigration detention centers. We also lack information about people incarcerated when cannabis isn’t their first offense, or those reincarcerated due to a parole violation.

Racial Disparities In Cannabis Arrests

While there are several reasons for the lack of existing data about cannabis prisoners, many of these reasons stem from disparities in both United States drug culture and its prison system. Specifically, the justice system is still clinging to racist attitudes that put people of color at higher risk for arrest and stricter punishment, both in cannabis-related charges and beyond.

At its core, cannabis prohibition is inseparable from racism. The Netflix documentary The Grass Is Greener highlights these racist roots, walking the viewer through the true reasons for prohibition. In the early 1900s, jazz clubs brought people of different races together, and “reefer” often showed up in both the music’s lyrics and the club scene. At the same time, thousands of individuals immigrated from Mexico to the southwest United States, responsible for bringing both traditional vaquero methods and the Spanish word marijuana. But just as now, the concept of the cowboy is associated with John Wayne and Americana, “marijuana” is shifting to belong to shareholders in the cannabis industry — many of whom are white men. 

And that shift was not without violence. “The Marijuana Menace,” is one of the earliest examples of cannabis propaganda in the United States, portraying Mexican immigrants as violent criminals whose lust for blood was triggered by an evil plant. As the propaganda grew to cast Black and Indigenous people in the “Menace” role, the racism attached to cannabis expanded in American culture — and then, American law. Outlawing cannabis gave cops an excuse to raid jazz clubs and discourage interracial gatherings in general.

In case any of this sounds like speculation, the following quote from Harry Anslinger in 1930 – the first ever commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics – should clear things up: “There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the U.S., and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos, and entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz, and swing result from marijuana usage. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers, and any others.”

Racist roots grow racist systems, and the fact remains nearly 100 years later. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) conducted an analysis in 2020 looking at cannabis arrests between 2010 and 2018. Police arrested Black people for marijuana possession at a rate 3.6 times higher than white people, even though both groups used cannabis at similar rates. In 2018, Montana had the worst disparity—Black people were 9.6 times more likely to face arrest there. The ACLU also put together an “interactive data visualizer” to help users better understand and internalize these statistics.

Has The Government Done Anything To Help?  

While discrimination and bias are deeply rooted in our systems, government leadership can (and, in some cases, did) take action. One way the government can release cannabis prisoners is through clemency. Clemency is a power given to the president by the Constitution that allows the government to formally “grant forgiveness” to incarcerated or formerly incarcerated people. 

President Biden used this power in many notable and controversial ways, including issuing sweeping and unprecedented pardons for thousands of cannabis prisoners. On October 6th, 2022, he announced pardons in an executive order that applied to “more than 6,500 citizens and lawful permanent residents convicted between 1992 and 2021 of simple marijuana possession charges under federal law or D.C. statute.” (For clarity, simple marijuana possession refers to when someone has a small amount of cannabis on them, intended for personal use). 

As a result of Biden’s pardons, many former inmates’ “civil disabilities” were reversed. A federal conviction can also leave individuals without certain civil rights, called “civil disabilities,” which can restrict or revoke their rights to vote, their ability to apply for certain jobs, their right to bear arms, and other activities of daily life, such as contracts and licenses.

The “civil disabilities” that former inmates incur only further oppress the communities hit hardest by prohibition and the War on Drugs. When the government imprisons a significant number of any specific community, that means a large percentage of that community will also be barred from various civil rights such as voting, getting jobs, qualifying for driver’s licenses, and more. Hence, the individual and collective punishment do not end when inmates are freed.

Biden’s pardons returned basic civil rights to people who qualified. Returning basic civil rights to past “offenders” is one of the most important steps in helping people and communities recover from disproportionately high incarceration rates.

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It’s paramount to note that, despite the massive impact on thousands of lives, Biden’s pardons did not release any federal cannabis prisoners.

Just over a year later, in December of 2023, Biden issued even more pardons that impacted thousands more people. This time, the pardon expanded beyond just simple possession. NPR reports that “The pardon encompasses U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents who committed or were convicted of simple possession, attempted simple possession or use of marijuana — regardless of whether the offender had been charged or prosecuted yet.”

Once again, no federal prisoners fit the requirements for release.

While no federal prisoners were released from these orders, Biden’s groundbreaking pardons opened up opportunities for thousands of former cannabis prisoners and their communities. But cannabis advocates, stubborn and unrelenting as always, didn’t waste any time before pushing for more. After seeing Biden’s willingness to grant pardons to cannabis prisoners, many campaigns put immense amounts of energy into presidential pardons. One such example was seen when the LPP put extensive effort toward the #Countdown4Clemency campaign in 2024.

The #Countdown4Clemency campaign put pressure on Biden during his last few months of presidency with “a call to action for President Biden to fulfill his commitment to cannabis justice by granting clemency to thousands of individuals incarcerated for federal cannabis convictions.” Activists did not want to miss this small window of opportunity to push Biden to finally release federal cannabis prisoners.

Ultimately, Biden commuted the sentences of 2,500 individuals incarcerated for non-violent drug offenses on January 17, 2025, just three days before he left office. This order included many individuals serving disproportionate time for cannabis convictions and, specifically, nine constituents of the Last Prisoner Project. Biden’s executive action saved those nine individuals alone a collective 53 years and 2 life sentences in prison.

While this action demonstrated that President Biden was listening to advocates — and officially issued more individual pardons and commutations than any other president in U.S. history — many remain incarcerated for cannabis. And so, the work continues, now under an administration with a less forgiving attitude toward drug offenses.

State Pardons

Pardons don’t just happen on a federal level, though – and many states made some huge strides in the past few years. In 2024, Maryland Gov. Wes Moor pardoned over 175,000 Maryland residents “with misdemeanor marijuana-related convictions.” Similarly, New Jersey expunged over 360,000 cannabis cases in 2021. And those are just two examples among a growing list of state-level cannabis pardons.

No one should be in prison for cannabis, and no one should have civil disabilities after leaving prison. It’s important to remember that data is never just a conceptual number; these numbers refer to individual human beings and their rights. The fight isn’t over, and the pardons issued in the last few years positively impact hundreds of thousands of people. Our efforts make a difference.

Advocates Push For Prison Reform or Abolition

The prison reform movement is largely concerned with the betterment of the conditions within prisons. One large push is to improve counseling and mental health programs. The podcast Southern Soul – Live Stream put out an episode in June of 2023 titled “Legal Cannabis & Prison Reform” – The Intersection of Entrepreneurship & Reintroduction! In the episode, Andy outlines the situation at hand, explaining, “The American prison system and jail system is the largest mental health institution we have in the country. There are more mentally ill people in our prisons and jails than there are in all the state psychiatric institutions combined.” 

Arti points out that the cannabis industry has a real chance to drive criminal justice reform by urging states to redirect cannabis tax revenue toward correctional education. Many advocates echo this stance: if states profit from legal weed, they should invest that money in improving prisons and reducing incarceration.

According to a 2024 poll conducted by BSG, “81% of likely voters support criminal justice reform, with a third ‘strongly’ in favor.” It’s evident that the criminal justice system needs to change, and a large majority of the country agrees.

While many advocates are pushing for reform in the United States’ prison system, some see a future where we abolish the system altogether. In the article “Rethinking Incarceration”, Victoria Law provides the following explanation of prison abolition: 

“Policing and prisons, in all manifestations, cannot be reformed to meet people’s needs and must be eliminated, with resources instead going toward creating and expanding support systems, including medical and mental health care, housing, employment, and education, which would, in turn, reduce harm and violence.”

In short, prison abolitionists argue that prisons can’t be fixed or reformed. Instead, they need to be replaced by sustainable systems that meet community needs. The term “abolitionist” was also used to describe people who aimed to abolish slavery – an idea that, to many, was just as ludicrous at the time as the idea of prison abolition today.

Now What?

We do not know exactly how many people are still in prison for cannabis in 2025, but we do know that the number is staggering. Today, in 2025, people are still in prison because marijuana was the only thing that helped with their chronic pain. Because it chilled them out after a long day. Because their PTSD would leave them bedridden without it. Because they were only able to let go and dance when they took a hit. Because their neighborhood was overpoliced and underfunded, and because legalization efforts left them behind.

One role you (yes, you!) can play in this fight is writing to a cannabis prisoner through the Last Prisoner Project’s Letter Writing Program. Prison is designed to be monotonous and isolating, but thankfully, the art of the pen pal is alive and well. Writing to a cannabis prisoner is an amazing way to show that you care about their situation and that people are still fighting for them. Above all else, it’s simply a great way to get to know another human being. You might just make a lifelong friend.

Take a deep breath. Please don’t leave this article defeated; leave determined. You have powerful knowledge to share, deep emotions to feel, and important action to take. We are all tied together by this magnificent plant, and we must vehemently refuse to let prison walls sever our ties.