Texas Cannabis LedgerTexas Marijuana Possession Arrest Statistics (2025)
Possession accounts for 41,049 of the 41,701 marijuana-coded arrest records in the Ledger’s 2025 Texas DPS dataset: 98.4%.
How many Texas marijuana records were for possession in 2025?
The Ledger classifies 41,049 records as possession, or 98.4% of its marijuana-coded total. The remaining 652 records fall into other marijuana offenses under the published mapping.
What counts as possession?
The ingestion first selects offense or statute text containing MARIJ or MARIHUANA. Within that selection, possession means Texas Health and Safety Code 481.121 or a possession-labeled marijuana row. Adult and juvenile columns are added. This describes the Ledger’s source mapping, not a legal opinion about an individual case.
Here, “marijuana arrests” is search shorthand for marijuana-coded arrest records in Texas DPS Computerized Criminal History (CCH) tables. These aggregates do not identify unique people or unique arrest events, establish guilt, or measure cannabis use. The arrest year and source publication date are different: this analysis covers 2023, 2024, 2025, using the January 13, 2026 workbook.
Possession across the available years
| Year | All marijuana-coded records | Possession-coded records | Possession share | Counties with rows |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 39,550 | 38,833 | 98.2% | 250 |
| 2024 | 39,791 | 39,185 | 98.5% | 250 |
| 2025 | 41,701 | 41,049 | 98.4% | 250 |
The possession-coded count in 2025 was 4.8% higher than in 2024. A changing possession share can reflect changes in either possession or other records; the percentage alone does not tell you whether the possession count rose.
Ten counties with the largest possession counts
This table orders matching county rows by possession-coded count, not by resident risk. Large populations can produce large totals. Open the full possession ranking.
| County | Possession records | All marijuana records | Possession share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tarrant County | 3,665 | 3,803 | 96.4% |
| Dallas County | 2,908 | 2,945 | 98.7% |
| Hidalgo County | 1,658 | 1,669 | 99.3% |
| Harris County | 1,550 | 1,553 | 99.8% |
| Montgomery County | 1,454 | 1,458 | 99.7% |
| Bexar County | 1,182 | 1,205 | 98.1% |
| Smith County | 1,061 | 1,067 | 99.4% |
| El Paso County | 908 | 921 | 98.6% |
| Brazos County | 884 | 884 | 100.0% |
| Bell County | 876 | 880 | 99.5% |
What this does not establish
The workbook does not tell us how many distinct people were charged, how cases ended, or why a county’s figures differ. Other marijuana-coded offenses are a residual category; they should not all be labeled sales or trafficking without examining their codes.
Comparing the statewide number with a national report? Read why the reporting systems produce different totals. For the direction of the overall series, see the statewide trend.
Definitions and limitations · Primary-source catalog · Download the underlying CSV