It’s time again for our annual cannabis index. (The source of each fact is in parenthesis.)
Percentage of US residents who use cannabis monthly: 7.4 (National Survey on Drug Use and Health)
Percentage of Americans who support access to medical marijuana: 78 (ThirdWay.org)
Percentage who oppose access to medical marijuana: 18 (ThirdWay.org)
Percent who support cannabis legalization for adults: 50 (ThirdWay.org)
Percentage who oppose legalization: 47 (ThirdWay.org)
Number of states that have legalized cannabis for use by adults: 4
Percentage of Washington, DC voters who cast ballots for cannabis legalization in the November Election: 70.1 (Ballotpedia.org)
Percentage of Oregon voters who cast ballots for legalization: 56.1 (Ballotpedia.org)
Percentage of Alaska voters who cast ballots for legalization: 53.2 (Ballotpedia.org)
Percentage of Americans who say they that want the federal government to stay out of state medical cannabis issues and adult-use legalization: 67 (ThirdWay.org)
Number of states suing federal government to block Colorado legalization: 2
Number of states with medical marijuana laws: 23 (Americans for Safe Access)
Percentage of Florida voters who cast ballots in favor of medical marijuana legalization: 57.6 (Ballotpedia.org)
Percentage of Florida vote that was needed to pass medical marijuana legalization: 60 (Ballotpedia.org)
Amount spent by casino magnate Sheldon Adelson to defeat Florida medical marijuana measure: $5 million (Washington Post)
Estimated Colorado state tax revenues from all legal cannabis sales in 2014: $84 million (Cato Institute)
Percentage decrease in Colorado roadway deaths last year: 25 (Washington Post)
Percentage decrease in violent crimes in Denver through November 30, 2014 compared to same period in 2013: 7.9 (City of Denver)
Percentage decrease in Colorado teens who reported smoking pot in 2014: 2 (MTFSurvey)
Number of stings conducted on Colorado pot shops for underage sales: 20 (Colorado Marijuana Enforcement Division)
Number of Colorado pot shops busted for selling to minors: 0 (Colorado Marijuana Enforcement Division)
Number of THC-laced candies reported given to Colorado trick-or-treaters: 0 (The Cannabist)
Percentage of American 12th graders who report that pot is “fairly easy” or “very easy” to get: 80 (US Monitoring the Future Survey)
Number of years that more than 80 percent of American 12th graders have reported easy access to pot: 40 (USMTFS)
Number of US marijuana arrests in 2013: 609,423 (FBI)
Rank of marijuana arrests among all drug arrests: 1 (FBI, UCR)
Rank of drug arrests among all crimes: 1 (FBI)
Amount of money spent on domestic marijuana arrests: $3.6 billion (ACLU)
Average percentage of homicides that US police agencies fail to solve each year: 37 (FBI)
Percentage of reported rapes not solved by US police in 2013: 60 (FBI)
Number of times blacks are more likely to be arrested by US police for pot than whites, despite less use per capita: 3.73 (ACLU)
US penal population in 2014: 2.2 million (American Psychological Association)
Global rank of US incarceration per capita: 2 (International Centre for Prison Studies)
Number of Americans who died from unintentional prescription drug overdoses in 2012: 33,175 (CDC)
Number of humans who have died from marijuana overdoses in recorded history: 0
Percentage of California medical cannabis patients who reported substituting cannabis for prescription drugs: 66 (Harm Reduction Journal, 2009)
Percentage reduction in neuropathic pain achieved by vaporizing whole plant cannabis: 45 (The Journal of Pain and Palliative Care Pharmacotherapy)
Percentage decrease in prescription drug overdoses attributed to medical marijuana laws in states that have them: 25 (JAMA Internal Medicine)
Estimated amount of cannabis consumed by Americans per year: 2,500-5,000 metric tons. (RAND)
Rank of Mexico as a US cannabis supplier: 1 (RAND)
Estimated Mexican cartel financial losses from US legalization: $1.8 billion (The Mexico Institute for Competitiveness)
Percentage of reported decline in marijuana prices in Sinaloa, Mexico last year: 50 (Washington Post)
Number of California misdemeanor marijuana arrests in 2013: 6,587 (The Criminal Justice Statistics Center)
Percentage decline of Californians arrested since personal decriminalization passed in 2010: 71 (The Criminal Justice Statistics Center)
Serving size of THC in Colorado: 10 milligrams.
Colorado servings of THC in a California Korova Black Bar: 100
Number of 2015 bills introduced to regulate California medical marijuana: 2
Number of comprehensive medical marijuana regulations passed by the California legislature: 0
California police revenue from the seizure and sale of property related to marijuana cases from 2002 to 2012: $181.4 million (Sacramento Bee)
National rank of California police for forfeiture revenue from marijuana: 1 (Sacramento Bee)
Estimated number of California adults who have used medical cannabis for a “serious” condition: 1.4 million (Drug and Alcohol Review, 2014)
Percentage of those adults who said medical cannabis was “effective”: 92 (Drug and Alcohol Review, 2014)
Fine in Fresno County for growing a single medical marijuana plant: $1,000 
Estimated number of visitors to The Emerald Cup 2014: more than 10,000 (The Emerald Cup)
Number of entrants in the flowers category of the California Emerald Cup outdoor organic cannabis competition: more than 600 (The Emerald Cup)
Maximum amount a person can earn a year and qualify for low-income marijuana assistance in Berkeley: $32,000 (City of Berkeley)
Rank of the word “vape” on Oxford Dictionary’s list of hottest words of 2014: 1
Number of pages in Oxford University Press’ new Handbook of Cannabis: 768
Number of boxes of Girl Scout Cookies that San Francisco Girl Scout Danielle Lei sold in two hours in front of a medical cannabis dispensary: 117 (Lei)
Minimum number of states likely to have legalization on the ballot in 2016: 3 (Marijuana Policy Project)
Number of states predicted to legalize by 2019: 17 (MPP)
