Access to Marijuana Associated with Decreased Crime Rates

Submitted by Medical Marijua... on Fri, 09/23/2011 - 09:07
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No, you didn't read that headline incorrectly. A new study, released just this Tuesday, shows that crime rates actually rise when medical marijuana dispensaries are closed. This study is in direct opposition of the majority opinion of law enforcement officials, who continue to claim that these collectives are hotbeds for crime.

The study takes into consideration the large metropolitan area of Los Angeles, which has allowed medical marijuana for years now. Last summer, however, hundreds of these dispensaries were shut down due to the restrictions of a new city ordinance.

The study, conducted by RAND Corp., looked at the crime reports from the ten days prior to the ordinance, and the ten days after. The results are shocking, and show that crime increased at a rate of 60 percent around those dispensaries that were closed down, versus zero percent around those that remained opened.

This news is great for the medical marijuana community, who continue to fight legislators and law enforcement agencies for the opportunity to exercise their patients’ rights. Many states are currently dealing with restrictions in relation to medical marijuana, and it is usually based on the belief that the presence of marijuana leads to worse drugs, and ultimately increased crime rates.

Many city officials are going to be forced to reconsider their thinking after the results of this study. Those within the medical marijuana community, however, are not surprised.

Just because dispensaries are shut down doesn't mean that people won't have access to marijuana. All it means is that they will have no LEGAL access to marijuana, therefore forcing them to turn to less-than-acceptable ways of obtaining the substance.

Just as lawmakers were forced to change their logic about the prohibition of alcohol, so we see them having to change their way of thinking about medicinal marijuana. It is even likely that these issues will be pushed past the barriers of the medical and into the bounds of the recreational.