One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
Study Showing Crime Increase Around Shuttered Dispensaries Removed From Website After City Attorney Demanded It
Snoop OG Kush medical marijuana (Photo by Michael Zampelli via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr)
A controversial study showing that crime actually increased in the neighborhoods around shuttered dispensaries has been yanked from the the website of the think tank that commissioned the study.
"As we've begun to take a look at the report, we decided it's best to remove it from circulation until that review is complete," Warren Robak, a spokesman for the Rand Corporation, told the Los Angeles Times.
The study looked at crime reports in a 3-block radius in the 10 days before many city clinics were shut down on June 7, 2010 and in the 10 days after. It compared the crime reports of clinics that remained open to those that shuttered. Mireille Jacobson, the study's lead author and a senior economist at RAND found that there was 59 percent more crime around shuttered dispensaries than ones that stayed open.
At the time Jacobson admitted that the study was only a snapshot, that there was a wide margin of error and that a longer study would be necessary to untangle why her study showed such a massive increase in crime.
But the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office was worried about her study, since it has been arguing that dispensaries actually increase crime. Jane Usher, a special assistant city attorney, and Asha Greenberg, an assistant city attorney, demanded "the immediate retraction" of the Rand study. "Until you publicly retract your work, we expect the Rand publication to be referenced nationwide, at incalculable avoidable harm to public health and safety," they wrote in a letter to Jacobson.
Robak admitted to the Times that it was the city attorney's office who were the biggest critics of the study. Rand has yanked the study down from its website, while it reviews the matter internally.
Jacobson might have another chance to review how shuttered shops affect the economy, as the feds start to crack down on them.
One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
