Arkansas State Police Saw an Increase in Illegal Drugs During 2023: Report

Marijuana
Above: Nearly 900 pounds of high-grade, illegal marijuana found after traffic stop in Lonoke County.

A February 2 news release from the Arkansas State Police reveals that troopers saw a dramatic increase in illegal drug seizures during 2023.

All told, authorities confiscated some 11,000 pounds of illegal drugs and $1.4 million in cash from Arkansas’ highways over the course of the year.

Among other things, state troopers seized more illegal marijuana and illegal THC products in 2023 than in past years.

The press release notes,

Illegal marijuana seizures were up by more than 2,000 pounds year to year. 10,386 pounds were seized in 2023 compared to 8,015 pounds in 2022. Seven out of the top ten illegal marijuana seizures came out of Crawford County, with the largest confiscation from a traffic stop on Interstate 40 in January. During that stop, 939 pounds of illegal marijuana and 141 pounds of illegal THC products were uncovered. . . .

In 2023, ASP confiscated various illegal THC products, including 187 pounds of marijuana edibles, more than 30 pounds of THC wax, and 1470 illegal THC cartridges from a driver who claimed he was driving through Arkansas from California to Georgia.

The press release indicates that many of the illegal drugs seized last year may have originated from outside of Arkansas.

Stories like these underscore that marijuana‘s legalization in other states has actually fueled the black market and the drug cartels rather than weakening them.

For example, California’s Unified Cannabis Enforcement Taskforce seized nearly $162 million worth of illegal marijuana during the first half of 2023.

Oregon has been inundated by industrial scale marijuana cultivation sites operated illegally by organized crime and drug cartels. Some of these marijuana operations are tied to labor trafficking and violent crime.

If Arkansas had passed marijuana amendment Issue 4 in 2022, our marijuana laws arguably would be more lax than many states’.

A similar marijuana amendment is currently vying for the 2024 ballot in Arkansas right now.

Contrary to popular belief, legalization does not decrease drug-related crime, and it does not alleviate drug abuse. If anything, it seems to make these problems worse.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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Group Approved to Circulate Petitions for Marijuana Amendment

Marijuana,

On Tuesday the Arkansas Attorney General’s office certified a popular name and ballot title for an amendment expanding marijuana legalization in Arkansas.

The group backing the measure now has until July 5 to collect 90,704 petition signatures to place the amendment on the ballot.

The amendment would change Arkansas’ medical marijuana law to enable recreational marijuana statewide. No longer would marijuana users need to suffer from a specific medical condition.

The amendment would drastically expand Arkansas’ laws to make it possible for people to grow and use marijuana at home. This would make it easier for people to use marijuana recreationally.

The amendment also would openly legalize marijuana in Arkansas if federal laws against marijuana are repealed.

Arkansas voters rejected marijuana legalization at the ballot box in 2022. The campaign against the 2022 marijuana amendment had only a fraction of the money that the marijuana industry had, but it was defeated by a broad coalition of churches, business groups, elected officials, and citizens who knew that marijuana would be bad for Arkansas. We anticipate similar opposition to this latest marijuana amendment as well.

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