Background: Legalizing cannabis impacts law enforcement strategies on drug deterrence. While cannabis possession arrests have fallen post-legalization, findings on racial disparities are mixed. No research has yet investigated cannabis legalization effects on police behavior in the form of drug seizures, or how it may influence the enforcement of other drugs.
Objectives: We sought to evaluate the effect of cannabis legalization on drug seizures and their related disparities by race to understand how law enforcement have adjusted to this rapidly shifting legal landscape.
Methods: Drug seizure data including state, race, and drug types from 18 states with over 95% National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS) coverage for 2017-2022 were analyzed. Log rates and log black-white risk ratios were calculated using census data. Two-way fixed effects difference-in-differences models evaluated the effect of adult-use cannabis legalization on the logs of seizure rates overall, cannabis only, non-cannabis drugs, and black-white risk ratios.
Results: Our findings indicate that cannabis legalization significantly reduced overall drug seizures, particularly those involving cannabis. However, the data reveal persistent racial disparities, with Black individuals consistently experiencing higher drug seizure risk ratios compared to White individuals. Unexpectedly, methamphetamine seizures increased post-legalization, potentially indicating a shift in law enforcement focus or drug market dynamics.
Implications: Cannabis legalization in Connecticut, Montana, Virginia, Michigan, Vermont, and Rhode Island was associated with reduced drug seizures overall driven by a large reduction in cannabis seizures. There were no significant changes to disparities, Black individuals retained higher drug seizure risk ratios compared to White individuals. Though expected to decrease without cannabis smell to prompt seizures, non-cannabis drug seizures were unchanged, potentially due to shifting enforcement priorities. These results suggest that cannabis policy reform can alleviate law enforcement burdens. Nonetheless, the ongoing racial disparities in drug seizures highlight the necessity for policies addressing systemic biases in drug enforcement.