Library of Congress - Federal Research D

Marijuana Availability in the United States and its Associated Territories Library of Congress - Federal Research D

The objective of this report is to assess the scope of the problem of marijuana within the United States and its associated territories. The report attempts to determine the annual amount of marijuana available in this country, including domestically produced and imported marijuana; the major avenues through which marijuana from foreign sources is smuggled into the United States; how much of the total production actually gets seized by law enforcement authorities; and to identify links to organized crime and terrorist groups. Within the context of these objectives, this survey summarizes and assesses the most authoritative data published by the U. S. government agencies that specialize in counter-narcotics issues. Practically all of the data contained in this survey are derived from the online publications of these agencies. Such publications provide the most up-to-date information available on the subject. This survey focuses primarily on the 50 U. S. states, but also, to the extent that data are available, on selected U. S. territories (American Samoa, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, and the Virgin Islands), as well as the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, which is associated with the United States. The other U. S. territories may also have a marijuana problem, but available pertinent data were insufficient to warrant their inclusion.