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.
Legalizing Medical Pot Doesn't Actually Lead To More Violent Crime, Study Says
Pineapple kush from a medical marijuana dispensary (Photo by drunkonlove via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr)
Unless you consider the munchies particularly dangerous, legalizing medicinal marijuana doesn’t lead to more violent crime, a new study says.A nationwide study published in the journal PLOS One says despite worries that legalizing weed for medicinal use leads to higher crime rates, there is no evidence of that happening. In fact, legalizing medicinal marijuana may actually be correlated with less violent crime.
Researchers from the University of Texas at Dallas looked at FBI data from 11 states in that made medicinal marijuana legal between 1990 and 2006. Though crime in general fell during that time, a closer look shows that after medicinal marijuana was legalized, there was no spike in violent crimes—even those you might associate with pot dispensaries, such as robbery and burglary.
Declines in homicide and assault after legalization can be explained away, but the researchers offered one possible explanation: People substitute smoking pot for drinking alcohol. (This would jibe with a recent study that said legalizing medicinal marijuana makes our roads safer.) Since alcohol is more closely related with violent crime than is weed, violent crime overall could be dipping as a result:
“While it is important to remain cautious when interpreting these findings as evidence that [medical marijuana legalization] reduces crime, these results do fall in line with recent evidence … and they conform to the longstanding notion that marijuana legalization may lead to a reduction in alcohol use due to individuals substituting marijuana for alcohol. … Given the relationship between alcohol and violent crime [31], it may turn out that substituting marijuana for alcohol leads to minor reductions in violent crimes that can be detected at the state level.”
Just don’t tell that to people like Nancy Grace, who insists people who are high on marijuana “kill families.”
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
