Drugs & alcohol · FBI arrest data · 2024
Drug abuse violations Arrests
633,925 arrests for drug abuse violations were reported across the U.S. in 2024 — 9.5% of all reported arrests.
Who was arrested for drug abuse violations
By sex & age
Shares of all drug abuse violations arrests.
By race & ethnicity
Agencies report race and ethnicity separately from the age/sex counts, so shares below are of the 460,407 race entries reported (387,460 ethnicity entries) — a different universe than the total above, which it can undershoot or occasionally exceed.
| White | 312,103 | 67.8% |
| Black or African American | 131,256 | 28.5% |
| American Indian / Alaska Native | 9,631 | 2.1% |
| Asian / Pacific Islander | 7,417 | 1.6% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 73,434 | 19.0% |
States with the most drug abuse violations arrests
Reported arrests, 2024 — reporting coverage varies by state.
| State | Arrests | Share of state's arrests |
|---|---|---|
| Texas | 76,390 | 13.7% |
| California | 50,540 | 8.5% |
| Tennessee | 31,445 | 12.6% |
| Pennsylvania | 29,549 | 11.8% |
| North Carolina | 26,720 | 12.2% |
| South Carolina | 23,626 | 15.5% |
| Wisconsin | 21,046 | 11.3% |
| Georgia | 20,569 | 11.0% |
| Indiana | 19,038 | 15.3% |
| Arizona | 17,872 | 8.6% |
| Alabama | 17,590 | 13.0% |
| Florida | 17,359 | 7.9% |
| Louisiana | 16,091 | 18.9% |
| Kentucky | 16,008 | 8.9% |
| Illinois | 14,834 | 7.9% |
More drugs & alcohol arrests
About this data
- Counts are arrests, not people. One person arrested twice counts twice; an arrest with several charges counts once, under the most serious charge.
- Reported agencies only. Figures cover the ~14,500 agencies in the FBI's 2024 Uniform Crime Reporting arrest (ASR) file — about 94–95% of the FBI's official national total, which additionally counts agencies that report only through NIBRS. Nothing here is estimated for non-reporting agencies, so totals slightly undercount and are not strictly comparable across areas with different reporting coverage.
- Location is the arresting agency's headquarters, not where the arrest happened. Multi-jurisdiction agencies (state police, sheriffs, transit police) concentrate in one county — county figures are approximate, and about 3% of arrests come from agencies that can't be placed in any county.
- Race and ethnicity are reported separately from the age/sex counts, and not for every arrest — race is reported for ≈95% of arrests, ethnicity for ≈81%. Shares here use those reported subtotals as denominators.
- No per-capita rates. Because reporting coverage varies by area, population-adjusted rates would mislead; we show counts only. Arrests measure enforcement activity, not crime rates.
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program, 2024 Arrest (ASR) master file. pumsdata is independent and not affiliated with the FBI. How our data works.
Drug abuse violations arrests — FAQ
How many drug abuse violations arrests were there in the U.S. in 2024?+
633,925 arrests for drug abuse violations were reported to the FBI in 2024 — 9.5% of all reported arrests. The true number is somewhat higher because not every agency reports.
Which state had the most drug abuse violations arrests?+
Texas reported the most (76,390), followed by California (50,540) and Tennessee (31,445). Reporting coverage varies by state.
Who gets arrested for drug abuse violations?+
In 2024, 28.5% of drug abuse violations arrests were of women and 5.6% were of juveniles under 18 (of 633,925 total).