ATLANTA — A Channel 2 Action News Investigation finds that Georgia is one of the top five destinations in the country for pot seized by the Postal Service.
However, the vast majority of those seizures lead to no criminal charges or prosecutions.
Through a federal Freedom of Information Act request, we obtained postal data that shows Georgia addresses are a favorite destination for marijuana in the mail.
The data shows that in 2021, more than 5,500 pounds of marijuana were seized.
“I would say the majority of it that we seize, percentage-wise, is coming from states like California where it is legal,” said Rick Johnsten, a postal inspector with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.
Postal inspectors say they confiscate that marijuana, but they rarely charge anyone with a crime.
In an Inspector General report, leadership acknowledges that because these are warrantless seizures, the seizures “are not used as evidence in criminal investigations; however, information about the packages, such as an address, may be used to support new or ongoing criminal investigations.”