No, legalizing medical marijuana doesn’t lead to crime, according to actual crime stats

[DonViejo]

BY EMILY BADGER
March 26 at 5:00 pm

Opponents of medical marijuana envision all kinds of insidious ways that legalizing the drug might lead to crime. Make marijuana more accessible, and more people will use it. If more people use it, more will tumble through the weed "gateway" to cocaine, or worse. Those people will then engage in crime to fund their hard-drug habits, or violence in the service of getting the stuff.

Furthermore: Once word gets out about medical dispensaries, those locations will become hotspots for criminals who now know exactly where to find prey carrying cash and drugs. Same goes for grow houses, which just invite property crime.

Pondering all of these dark possibilities, it's no wonder anyone suspects mayhem in medical marijuana laws. Actual historic crime data, however, suggest there's no evidence that legalizing the drug for medicinal purposes leads to an increase in crime. In fact, states that have legalized it appear to have seen some reductions in the rates of homicide and assault.

These findings come from a nationwide study published Wednesday in the journal PLOS One (which is notable for the fact that no one seems to have done this crucial analysis before). Researchers at the University of Texas at Dallas looked at the FBI's Uniform Crime Report data across the country between 1990 and 2006, a span during which 11 states legalized medical marijuana. Throughout this time period, crime was broadly falling throughout the United States. But a closer look at the differences between these states – and within the states that legalized the drug before and after the law's passage – further shows no noticeable local uptick among a whole suite of crimes: homicide, rape, robbery, assault, burglary, larceny, and auto theft.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/03/26/no-legalizing-medical-marijuana-doesnt-lead-to-crime-according-to-actual-crime-stats/?wpisrc=nl_eve

[Ohio Joe]

1. K&R - nt

[cthulu2016]

2. No, but it leads to an alarming increase in glaucoma diagnoses. (that's a joke)

[pipoman]

3. I doubt glaucoma

Maybe RLS or fibro myalgia. ..

[Warren DeMontague]

4. Color me completely and utterly NOT shocked.

[Tsiyu]

5. Tell that to the SHILL David R. Reagan MD, PhD

who testified in the Tn legislature AGAINST HB 1385.

He's our "Chief medical officer" and his testimony LYING about the statistics on cannabis legalization and the link to teen use basically killed the bill from going forward. Of course our TN legislators don't have the combined IQ of a bag of oregano, so they accept the lies as pure fact in order to fill their own insatiable pockets with for=profit prison and pharmco cash.

I just wonder how much stock the asshole David R. Reagan MD PhD has in CCA or pharmco. He sounded like an idiot and a complete shill for the Draconian laws of TN, where disenfranchising people is a main money-making industry here. ( Thanks, CCA and ALEC )

That this rich motherfucker took away my chance to have the medicine I need, and that he basically wants to make people like me criminals, tells me that facts don't fucking matter to these greedy goons.


They adore money and have no clue what MERCY means. These and the GA legislature saw the babies who suffer from severe seizure disorders and DID NOTHING TO HELP THEM. I wish the same on all of them. May sound harsh, but that's how I honestly feel. I hope they all choke on their goddamned precious dollar bills......$$$$$$$$$$$$ feeds the ignorance, after all.

[Scuba]

6. Less alcohol consumption leads to less violent crime. Not exactly rocket surgery.