Debunking myths: legalizing cannabis doesn’t lead to more crime and violence

We bet you've already heard comments on the alleged negative consequences the legalization of cannabis leads to, such as the belief that it boosts crime. Unfortunately, many falsehoods still surround the concept of marijuana. However, this widespread rumor not being supported by reliable data causes many to consider it a mere myth that has, in fact, recently been refuted by many studies analyzing the impact of medical-use cannabis regulation on some states of the US. Without going any further, a recent study published in 'The Economic Journal' proves that cannabis and crime don't go hand in hand. What's more, contrary to what those opposed to the legalization of marijuana believe, many of the states where medical pot has been regulated remain peaceful. The study actually reveals that, when a US state bordering Mexico (a country with 7 drug cartels controlling the illegal sale of marijuana) legalized the use of cannabis for therapeutic purposes, criminal offenses dropped by an average of 13 %. Having analyzed FBI data from 1994 to 2012, researchers discovered that in such states homicides fell by 41 %, robbery dropped by 19 % and drug-related murders plunged by 10 %. California, where recreational marijuana is also legal since the beginning of this year, enjoyed a 15 % drop in violent crimes while Arizona was the state where the decrease was the least noticeable, with only 7 %. "Whenever there is a medical marijuana law, we observe that crime at the border decreases because suddenly there is a lot less smuggling and a lot less violence associated with that", says Evelina Gavrilova, economist and co-author of this study.

This research study was published exactly when US Attorney General Jeff Sessions, one of the biggest opponents to the legalization of marijuana, annulled a regulation that enabled states to legalize cannabis without federal intervention. So far, 29 states have legalized the therapeutic use of cannabis while 8 states, as well as Washington D.C., have also permitted the recreational use of it. Eleven of those states legalized medical marijuana in the period between 1990 and 2006. After investigating the crime rates in some fifty states, including those 11, during such period, a report published in the journal PLOS ONE proved that legalizing medical marijuana doesn't cause any increase in crime. Researchers from the University of Texas at Dallas discovered that none of the 7 crime rates analyzed, including homicide, rape, violence, robbery or car theft, was affected by regulation. Despite the negative prejudices towards cannabis dispensaries or growers, all rates stayed the same. What's more, the FBI records used for this report revealed that violent offenses such as homicides and aggressions had even decreased during this period. According to another investigation based on more recent data and published in the journal 'Preventive Medicine', the opening up of dispensaries selling solely medical marijuana doesn't cause more people to break the law. The authors, all researchers from the universities of Kansas and California, examined the felony property and violent crimes happening during 2014 in South LA, a southern region whose homicide rate is four times higher than the national rate, to reach that conclusion. However, tobacco and liquor stores clearly constituted nuisance properties associated with dangerous neighborhood conditions for crime and violence. Near medical cannabis dispensaries, there was no increase in violence.

Another investigation also studied the alleged link between medical cannabis dispensaries and social unrest. Published in the 'Journal of Urban Economics' some months ago, it analyzed the consequences of the shutting down of hundreds of medical marijuana dispensaries in LA, which were forced to end their activities by order of the Prosecutor. Contrary to what detractors may believe, with the shutting down of dispensaries, property crime and robberies rose because, according to researchers, frequent foot traffic was a heavy deterrent. "We can conclude from our research that retail businesses such as dispensaries are effective in lowering crime", said one of the authors of this project. Leaving these two LA-focused studies aside, data on other states also proves that the legalization of recreational marijuana lowers crime rates. In 2015, almost 3 years after Washington legalized the production, distribution and sale of cannabis, the non-profit organization Drug Police Alliance assessed how the situation had changed. The report stated that violent offenses had dropped by 10 % between 2011 and 2014, murders by 13 % and robberies by 6 %.

The Department of Public Safety of Colorado also examined the impact the regulation of recreational cannabis would have in the state which, together with Washington, became the first to legalize the recreational use of marijuana in the States. The investigation, mostly focused on the variability of cannabis-related arrest rates, ended up proving the efficacy of legalization. In two years' time, those arrests, most of which were for the possession of marijuana, had dropped by 46 %, namely from 13,000 to 7,000. In short, the regulation of cannabis did contribute to undermining the black market. All these studies simply prove that the theory that cannabis regulation increases crime rates is wrong. Data shows, firstly, that dispensaries don't attract crime, and, secondly, that none of the states where medical or recreational marijuana is permitted has experienced any rise in crime rates, but quite the contrary. Those rates have, in many cases, gone down.