{"id":50701,"date":"2020-03-25T19:12:23","date_gmt":"2020-03-25T19:12:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/federal-drug-possession-cases-fell-28-in-2019-new-data-reveals\/"},"modified":"2020-03-25T19:12:23","modified_gmt":"2020-03-25T19:12:23","slug":"federal-drug-possession-cases-fell-28-in-2019-new-data-reveals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/federal-drug-possession-cases-fell-28-in-2019-new-data-reveals\/","title":{"rendered":"Federal Drug Possession Cases Fell 28% in 2019, New Data Reveals"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Federal cases for possession of all drug types fell considerably in 2019 compared to previous years, according to an announcement by the US Sentencing Commission on Monday. The announcement follows the commission\u2019s release of its annual report, which summarizes data regarding federal crime cases, sentencing guidelines, and boring budget stuff.<\/p>\n<p>The US Sentencing Commission noted on Twitter that federal courts saw a <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheUSSCgov\/status\/1242086704980377600\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><u>28 percent reduction<\/u><\/a> in drug possession cases in 2019 compared to 2018. In fact, of all the crime categories, drug possession fell the most.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The largest decreases were seen in drug possession (-28%); money laundering offenses (- 9%); and fraud, theft, and embezzlement (-4%) offenses.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; SentencingCommission (@TheUSSCgov) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheUSSCgov\/status\/1242086704980377600?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 23, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The commission\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ussc.gov\/about\/annual-report-2019\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><u>annual report<\/u><\/a> shows that <a href=\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/meth-replaces-weed-as-tennessees-most-popular-drug\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><u>methamphetamine<\/u><\/a>, not marijuana, was the federal court system\u2019s primary drug offender in 2019. Cases related to meth made up nearly half \u2014 or 44 percent \u2014 of all drug cases last year. Meanwhile, weed has increasingly fallen off of the feds\u2019 collective radar since 2012, which happens to be the same year Colorado and Washington State voted to legalize recreational pot.<\/p>\n<p>As noted by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marijuanamoment.net\/feds-prosecuted-even-fewer-marijuana-cases-in-2019-as-more-states-legalize-new-data-shows\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><u><em>Marijuana Moment<\/em><\/u><\/a>, cannabis was, in a sense, the feds\u2019 drug of choice by 2012, with 7,000 cases involving the plant back then. In other words, in 2012, weed-related crimes made up most of the feds\u2019 drug-related cases. But over the following seven years, marijuana cases began rapidly plummeting by number. By 2019, marijuana became one of the least prioritized drugs alongside crack-cocaine, with both cannabis and crack coming in at just below 2,000 cases each.<\/p>\n<p>The latest number-crunching from the Sentencing Commission jives with an earlier report written by Supreme Court Justice John Roberts in January. In Roberts\u2019s report, he showed that prosecutions for marijuana crimes dropped, coincidentally, by <a href=\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/federal-weed-prosecutions-fell-by-28-in-2019\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><u>28 percent<\/u><\/a> in 2019 compared to 2018.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"640\" height=\"430\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/embed\/gallery\/photos-of-cops-smoking-weed\/photos-of-cops-smoking-weed-2\" ><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Another take away from the Sentencing Commission\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ussc.gov\/about\/annual-report-2019\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><u>report<\/u><\/a>: Drugs no longer compose the bulk of the feds\u2019 cases. That title now belongs to immigration cases, likely due to President Trump\u2019s focus on stopping illegal immigration into the US (and, y\u2019know, denying asylum seekers their human rights, too).&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In 2019, immigration cases accounted for 38.4 percent of all federal court cases. On the other hand, drug cases \u2014 which were mainly for trafficking, not possession \u2014 accounted for just 26.6 percent of federal cases that same year.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Does the US Sentencing Commission\u2019s data indicate that the US is starting to rethink its failed War on Drugs? It\u2019s hard to say, but we can be certain about one thing: The feds are likely <a href=\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/leaked-document-suggests-the-feds-are-freaking-out-over-global-weed-reform\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><u>throwing in the towel<\/u><\/a> on marijuana prohibition. Now, it\u2019s likely a matter of when, and not necessarily if.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Follow Randy Robinson on <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/randieseljay\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><u><em>Twitter<\/em><\/u><\/a><em>,<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/randieseljay\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> <u><em>Instagram<\/em><\/u><\/a><em>, and<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/randieseljay\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> <u><em>Facebook<\/em><\/u><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Drug cases, which used to make up the majority of cases in the federal court system, slipped into second place last year. Now, immigration cases dominate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50702,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3036],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Federal Drug Possession Cases Fell 28% in 2019, New Data Reveals - Merry Jane<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/federal-drug-possession-cases-fell-28-in-2019-new-data-reveals\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Federal Drug Possession Cases Fell 28% in 2019, New Data Reveals - Merry Jane\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Drug cases, which used to make up the majority of cases in the federal court system, slipped into second place last year. 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