This article, written by NORML, appears here with permission.
Federal law enforcement agents and their partners seized nearly 5.7 million cultivated marijuana plants in 2022, according to annual data compiled by the US Drug Enforcement Administration.
According to figures published in the DEA’s Domestic Cannabis Eradication/Suppression Program Statistical Report, agents and their partners confiscated approximately 5.7 million cultivated cannabis plants last year – a slight increase (three percent) over 2021’s total. Agents also reported confiscating nearly 37,000 THC-infused edible products and another 60,000 cannabis concentrates.
This is the highest annual seizure total reported by the agency since 2011. Cannabis-related seizures largely fell from 2012 to 2020, before increasing sharply in 2021.
As in past years, the overwhelming percentage of all DEA-related seizures (88 percent) and arrests (52 percent) took place in California. Despite adult-use cannabis being legal in the state, it continues to serve as the primary provider of unregulated cannabis throughout the United States. In addition, California’s high tax rates and municipal bans on cannabis retailers have made it difficult for the legal market to supplant the unregulated marijuana marketplace.
“California has always …