Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Reduce Crime, Not Promote It Like Some Think
Despite the awakening of many people towards the safest intoxicating substance on the planet, some still view cannabis as a threat. People associate pot with crime, and therefore cannabis dispensaries are also associated with crime -- making communities less willing to adopt the change breaking across the Western world.
But is it really the case that dispensaries increase crime? According to a new study the opposite is true, where crime rises when dispensaries close, but not when they open.
Here are a few graphs from the paper "Going to pot? The impact of dispensary closures on crime", showing the (a.) 1 mile, (b.) 1/3 of a mile, and (c.) 1/8 of a mile around dispensaries by closure status:
At first that not seem like it means much to prove the claim that crime falls instead of rising.
Here is another look at the data, this time the percentage of change in crime by proximity is more visible:
OK, so maybe there is more crime when the pot dispensaries close, but that begs the question why is this happening?
To find that answer, we can look at other businesses that have crime when they shut down, such as restaurants. Why is it that areas where restaurants close also get an increase in crime? This will shed light on why the same happens to marijuana dispensaries.
Restaurants can close for various reasons, like no more investors, bankruptcy, or from other forces like the Department of Public Health that can close a business for good, or just a short period of time. The most common problem in Los Angeles County, CA, USA, is a vermin harborage or infestation that is responsible for shutting down 2/3 of closing restaurants, and 12% are closed from a lack of potable or hot water. Regardless of the reason, this produces less people on the street, and less eyeballs to witness or report a crime. This makes an area a better target for crime when there is less foot-traffic, even when the restaurant is closed for only a short period of time.
The same is so for cannabis dispensaries: when they close, there is less foot traffic. It's estimated that an open dispensary can essentially provide $30,000 in benefits to the local society by preventing theft. Imagine that... having a pot dispensary keeps people and the society from losing money to thieves!
This also applies to any business. The more businesses that increase foot-traffic in an area, the less crime they are likely to have.
Weed business is good business. It help keep the common crooks and thieves away from the neighborhood.
It's too bad dispensaries and growing are highly regulated, at least in Canada. It's not about decriminalizing cannabis alone to allow people to use freely, or grow freely. No. It's about legalization, whereby the state has control over who is allowed to grow industrial operations, and how they are to grow it. If people didn't try to get more product and make more money by using chemicals or toxins like Rund-Up, maybe people would be less afraid and trust people to produce the right kinds of product? Maybe then government would have less of a leg to stand on to get the support of the people who fear pot and the alleged crime it brings.
This is a problem in all industries though. Being cheap with harmful substances, or cutting corners, all in the effort to maximize profits is why regulators and inspectors are in various industries. We trust each other less when money gets involved. Rather than making a good or safe product, the concern is on making more money. So we watch and inspect, making sure wrongs aren't being done in order to make money. I think we will always need to verify things and not simply believe or blindly trust in what others are selling, be it a product or service, or an idea.
Weed just needs to be grown man. That's it. No tax, no nothing. It's a plant, ya know....Gosh I hate politics.
Absolutely. One of the most beneficial plants on the planet.
totally agree,cannabis should be legalized 100% everywhere. alcohol is a lot worse and most cannabis smokers are normal everyday people who act responsibly in society.
One thing people do not know is that anyone who goes into space gets under the influence of drugs all the time. Astronauts are forced to sleep inside sacks and face an absurd noise on the ship. As it is impossible to sleep well and they can not waste a minute of work (each hour in space costs approximately 100 thousand dollars), they take amphetamines during the day and sedatives to sleep.
That's nuts! wth
Hi @krnel I totally agree with you the fact that shops like restaurant, shop, or weed dispensary are not link to criminality growing. But the fact that when shop are closing the place is empty with no more activity from customers and when a place is quite and empty it become a good place for thieve and other robbers. I look at my country of origin France the government is so stupid they have the old believe system that weed is like hard drug, but at the same time they let the criminal industry of drugs growing in place dominated by Arab and African district with the result most of those district are now no more in the control of police force (we call them no go zone) when the cops try to shows up they are received by stones and or bullet as well as Molotov cocktails. Some of the cops loose their life even peoples. Now i live in Thailand the case is different with a strong law against drugs but they mostly target the meths-amphetamine who kill and make users crazy. Mostly for weed they are more compliant as they recognize it as a category 5 drug so not really dangerous. But still in Thailand the best is to stay far from it as a foreigner. But the actual government( a military gov) want to change it for the good little like in US. We'll see. Thank you for sharing ^ and follow
No go zones are crazy. The face of Europe is changing, migration invasion with no integration, they will overtake the countries in the end. Thanks for the feedback.
Yeah this research is very interesting I would like to see a further study to control for closing time differences in certain low income high income areas. I wonder if marijuana places are the major factor in the crime drop or if a tobacco lounge would have the same effect.
Side not if I can make enough money on here I'm moving to Denver were they have weed lounges that have many different ways to smoke/vape/eat THC! Thanks for this post I hope that I contribute to the body of research for this issue since Social Psychology is my passion and this is a social psychology issue.
Yeah more research would be interesting indeed. Thanks for the feedback and good luck in your move to Denver.
At least were able to smoke it legally in some states like California, Alaska, Colorado, and Washington. 4 out of 50 aint bad really.
Hehe, true, but it makes for a messed up division in the country lol. Criminal in one but not other states...
I 100% agree with you, everyone would get along if we all had a bong =D
I wish the UK Government would utilise this as a post brexit strategy to boost our economy. We have farmers getting paid pennies, millions of acres of fields, we need something that has a turn around rate quite quickly. We will be loosing EU Subsidies in farming, guarantee them a new industry along side their farming ones.
I'm pretty sure with the legalisation of cannabis vote proportion being as high as it is in the UK that if presented properly the case for recreational use would get passed.
Good idea, pump the economy up :P
I generally agree with you. However, it's not like weed is harmless. It's an intoxicant/medicine so it should be regulated as such. But I think the War on Drugs is a scam and failure. Also, if people wish to use drugs then who's going to stop them?
Indeed, smoking it isn't good for you. But it's still the safest intoxicant ;) The war on drugs is indeed a sham.
It's absolute bullshit that weed is illegal and considered a crime. Man alcohol is much more dangerous that weed in every way, but noooo, smoke a spiff and you're going to jail. It's so annoying that I can't legally buy some weed anytime I want to...
Yup it's a racket. Tax it all for profit is what comes next lol.
Madness! Not reefer madness, but pharma ;)