Sentenced People In State Prisons In The US Whose Most Serious Offense Was Drug Possession

The US Dept. of Justice's Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that at yearend 2021 there were 1,021,288 sentenced people in state prisons in the US, of whom 127,348 (12.5%) had as their most serious offense a drug charge: 34,382 for drug possession (3.4%) and 92,965 for "other" drug offenses, including manufacturing and sale (9.1%).

Table: Number of Sentenced People In State Prisons in the US Whose Most Serious Offense Was A Drug Charge, By Gender, 2006-2021