Scorecard of State Rankings, (2007)
State
Penalties
Penalties (1 ounce)
Arrest Rate
Arrest Rate of Users
Past Month Use
Past Month Use (Age
12 to 17)
Past Year Use
Past Year Use (Age
12 to 17)
Alabama 19 3 22 18 48 47 47 47
Alaska 46 12 48 49 8 10 4 11
Arizona 12 2 16 14 35 38 34 28
Arkansas 3 3 29 30 25 29 23 25
California 46 12 41 42 17 27 17 23
Colorado 41 12 27 35 6 8 8 5
Connecticut 19 3 37 39 20 14 14 12
Delaware 34 4 12 20 19 27 17 28
District Of Columbia 34 4 1 9 3 24 3 21
Florida (1) 1 1 17 17 30 24 34 28
Georgia 4 12 15 15 27 43 29 39
Hawaii 42 9 51 46 35 24 39 17
Idaho 14 3 33 25 32 36 43 43
Illinois 9 3 6 6 32 36 33 43
Indiana 9 3 24 26 23 15 29 33
Iowa 34 4 34 22 51 44 50 48
Kansas 19 3 30 27 29 22 31 31
Kentucky 19 3 3 3 25 19 25 16
Louisiana 34 4 5 7 32 39 25 37
Maine 45 12 31 40 5 2 9 3
Maryland 19 3 4 5 41 39 31 33
Massachusetts 46 12 47 48 9 5 6 6
Michigan 19 3 44 45 13 13 11 17
Minnesota 13 12 35 36 12 19 15 25
Mississippi 29 12 14 4 47 50 49 50
Missouri 6 3 10 11 30 30 25 33
Montana 2 4 50 50 4 4 10 4
Nebraska 50 11 8 2 41 45 41 49
Nevada 16 12 19 21 21 22 22 17
New Hampshire 19 3 28 44 6 5 4 9
New Jersey 30 4 23 24 46 39 38 36
New Mexico 44 10 38 37 13 5 17 7
New York 40 7 2 10 15 15 13 15
North Carolina 33 6 20 19 35 33 37 38
North Dakota 7 3 36 28 44 49 43 39
Ohio 51 12 40 38 21 18 20 12
Oklahoma 19 3 13 8 40 33 46 39
Oregon 4 12 32 41 10 11 7 7
Pennsylvania 42 9 39 33 41 30 36 25
Rhode Island 19 3 43 47 1 3 1 1
South Carolina 11 9 7 1 45 48 41 45
South Dakota 17 3 42 32 35 39 43 39
Tennessee 19 3 11 13 27 33 25 31
Texas 32 5 21 12 49 45 48 45
Utah 31 4 46 31 50 51 51 51
Vermont 18 4 49 51 2 1 2 1
Virginia 49 9 25 29 17 11 23 21
Washington 8 8 26 34 11 15 12 14
West Virginia 34 4 45 43 35 30 40 24
Wisconsin 34 4 18 23 24 19 21 20
Wyoming 14 3 9 16 15 9 15 10

 

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Notes:

The District of Columbia, Florida, and Illinois do not provide data to the national Uniform Crime Reporting Program. DC and IL data reported above were obtained from the respective city and state governments. (see below)

Wyoming arrest rate and related ranking are based on 2006 data.

To simplify comparisons, for some states the 1 ounce penalty category covers amounts just under 1 ounce. Penalty Rankings are based on the severity of punishment and were calculated based on the maximum number of days allowed by state law for the listed quantities of marijuana. The overall ranking is based on a weighted index for the four quantity levels. The weighting used in this index was: 70% for penalties for 1 ounce and 10% each for the penalties for 2, 3, and 4 ounces.

(1) Florida marijuana arrests were estimated at 40% of total drug arrests for this table.

Sources:

Uniform Crime Reporting Program Data, Research & Analysis Branch - Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Departmemt, Illinois State Police and Chicago Police Department

National Survey on Drug Use and Health

ImpacTeen Illicit Drug Team. Illicit drug policies: Selected laws from the 50 states. Berrien Springs, MI: Andrews University, 2002. http://www.impacteen.org/generalarea_PDFs/IDTchartbook032103.pdf

National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). State by State Laws. http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=4516

Selected State Criminal Codes

More Information on Source Data
 
 
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