Mendocino and Humboldt counties, California's two most renowned pot-cultivation regions, are among the top counties in per capita arrests for marijuana.
And despite a softening of social attitudes towards marijuana, California law enforcement officials arrested 78,514 people statewide for pot offenses in 2008.
Those are some of the conclusions that can be reached from an analysis of 2008 arrest data from the California Department of Justice - and statewide interactive mapping by Philip Reese of The Sacramento Bee.
In 2008, the last full year for which figures are available, neighboring Mendocino and Humboldt combined for 972 marijuana arrests and ranked third and fourth in pot arrests per population. They trailed in per capita arrests behind rural Alpine County - which only had 7 pot busts - and Inyo County - which had 105 arrests.
Los Angeles had the state's highest number of marijuana arrests - 23,851 - but that ranked only 25th among the state's 58 counties when measured per population. Sacramento - with 2,430 pot busts - ranked 44th in rate of arrests.
All told, authorities in California arrested 61,388 adults and juveniles on marijuana misdemeanors and another 17,126 for pot felonies.
The interactive map of marijuana arrests can be viewed by clicking here.
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