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Bureau of Justice Statistics releases new report on “Methamphetamine, Cocaine, and Other Psychostimulant Offenses in Federal Courts, 2022”

By Douglas Berman

Via email, I learned of this notable new report released today by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, titled “Methamphetamine, Cocaine, and Other Psychostimulant Offenses in Federal Courts, 2022.”   The reportprovides details on persons arrested and convicted for a federal offense in Fiscal Year 2022 involving various (but not all) federal controlled substances: “Fifty-five percent (14,392) of the total arrests (26,233) the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) made during fiscal year (FY) 2022 were for methamphetamine, cocaine, and other psychostimulant offenses.” The discussion of sentencing in this report appears drawn from US Sentencing Commission data, and here is a small part of an extended data discusssion:

In FY 2022, 14,420 persons were sentenced for a drug offense involving psychostimulants, an increase from 12,616 in FY 2021. Methamphetamine (9,704) was the psychostimulant type that the largest number of persons were sentenced for in FY 2022, followed by powder cocaine (3,476) and crack cocaine (1,117)….

On average, the number of persons sentenced for psychostimulants decreased by 1% annually from FY 2002 to FY 2022. More persons were sentenced for methamphetamine (up 5% annually) in FY 2022 than in FY 2002. Fewer persons were sentenced for drug offenses involving MDA and MDMA (down 11% annually) crack cocaine (down 7% annually) and other amphetamines (down 4% annually) in FY 2022 than in FY 2002….

Nearly three-quarters (73%) of persons sentenced for a drug offense involving psychostimulants in FY 2022 were sentenced below the applicable guideline range. Thirty-five percent of persons sentenced received a downward departure (a more lenient sentence than the guideline range). The most common (21%) downward departure was a substantial assistance departure for assisting the authorities in the investigation or prosecution of another person or organization.  Nine percent of persons sentenced for a drug offense involving psychostimulants received an early disposition program departure, which occurs when the government seeks a sentence below the guideline range because the person participated in the government’s expedited guilty plea program.  An additional 37% of persons sentenced for a psychostimulant drug offense received either a downward range variance (24%) or a governmentsponsored variance (13%) Reductions in sentences, both departures and variances, were due to prosecutors’ motions 43% of the time.

In FY 2022, 94% of persons sentenced for a drug offense involving psychostimulants were sentenced to imprisonment only. The median term of imprisonment for persons sentenced for a drug offense involving psychostimulants was 70 months. Persons sentenced for a drug offense involving methamphetamine received a median prison term of 94 months in FY 2022.