There is no correlation between legalization of medical marijuana and increases in crime. That’s the conclusion reached by researchers at the University of Texas at Dallas who looked at crime trends from 1990-2006 across all 50 states, the period of time during which the first 11 states legalized medi-pot.
Using FBI crime data, the researchers, including criminologist Robert Morris, studied homicide, rape, robbery, assault, burglary, larceny and auto theft rates for the 16-year period. None of these crimes increased after medi-pot legalization in any of the states where it became legal.
In fact, Morris said in Science Daily, robbery and burglary rates were completely unaffected – a finding that contradicts the sky-will-fall predictions of medi-pot naysayers who argued that dispensaries would be targets and lead to an increase in crime.
The study accounted for an “exhaustive list” of socioeconomic variables “that are well-established links to changes in crime rates,” the online publication reported.
“The results are remarkable,” Morris said. “It’s pretty telling. It will be interesting to see what future studies hold.”
This article appears in April 18 • 2014.