Marijuana legalisation causing violent crime to fall in US states, study finds

[VivaRevolution]

Marijuana legalisation causing violent crime to fall in US states, study finds
Rates of assault and murder decreasing in regions near Mexican border where cannabis use has been partially legalised

In US states where marijuana can now be grown legally, the demand for illegal cannabis is falling Getty Images
The legalisation of marijuana for medical purposes has led to a significant reduction in violent crime in several US states bordering Mexico, according to new research.

The study, published in The Economic Journal, found that the rate of violent crime – including robberies, murders and aggravated assaults – fell by 12.5 per cent in counties close to the border after the introduction of medical marijuana laws (MMLs).

“MMLs allow people to grow and cultivate marijuana plants legally within the US,” Professor Evelina Gavrilova, one of the study’s authors, told The Independent.

This means that people don’t need to buy illegal marijuana anymore so drug trafficking organisations (DTOs) have far fewer customers.”


DTOs have long been a major contributor to violent crime in US border states.

“Their namesake activity – the smuggling of illicit drugs – is known to be paired with extreme levels of violence, which DTOs use to contest the revenues in the drug market,” according to the study.

With these organisations now less active in the border regions due to falling demand, instances of violence have also fallen. “As revenues decrease, so does the incentive to invest in violent activity,” the paper says.


Robberies have decreased by 19 per cent in US border states which have adopted MMLs, murders by 10 per cent and assaults by nine per cent.

The biggest impact is on drug-law related murders, which have fallen by nearly 41 per cent. Countries closest to the border have seen the most significant reduction.


http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...op-numbers-study-california-new-a8160311.html


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I am shocked I tell you, shocked!

Who would have thought that crime is linked to prohibition?

I guess anyone who ever studied alcohol prohibition, but who else?

Discuss........

 

[jamel]

Man... Alot of mexicans died for that bullshit seed filled brick weed with chunks of dog hair and plastic bags in it.

 

[LMP]

Make a drug that is no worse than alcohol legal, and people stop doing as much illegal shit. I must say I'm shocked.

 

[wlu.29]

Marijuana stocks gonna be my fast track to early retirement

 

[Cubo de Sangre]

Land of the free.

 

[trolololol]

 

[InternetHero]

Someone who uses that infernal Twitter contraption please send a hashtag or two to the Attorney General.

 

[kenetics]

As a social worker.. weed destroys youngsters future, sad really.

 

[Shoemaker]

Someone who uses that infernal Twitter contraption please send a hashtag or two to the Attorney General.

I celebrated this news properly at about 9PM, not really in any shape to operate machinery.

 

[second sight]

anyone wanna buy a bridge?

 

[Quipling]

Man... Alot of mexicans died for that bullshit seed filled brick weed with chunks of dog hair and plastic bags in it.

I, for one, demand stricter drug laws to honor their sacrifices.

 

[InternetHero]

Land of the free.

Compared to 99% of people who lived before or after us, to borrow a term from a shiftless millennial "we are free as fuck."

The ruling classes have understandably never wanted people drunk, high, or raiding the 7-11 at midnight.

That causes mild social ills and a slight loss of productivity IE less money for said ruling class.

Obviously society seems ready for this step and the cons of a marijuana prohibition are too overwhelming compared to the pros.

 

[InternetHero]

I celebrated this news properly at about 9PM, not really in any shape to operate machinery.

I'm going to Colorado in a few days... allegedly...

Rocky Mountain High's ahead?

Ha! I am personally not into the chronic, but every once in a while why not.

All the better to see and experience new things now and then.

 

[Cubo de Sangre]

Compared to 99% of people who lived before or after us, to borrow a term from a shiftless millennial "we are free as fuck."

I don't know. Sometimes I think recorded history is a blip in it all and people lack the imagination to comprehend just how many people/civilizations throughout history have done what they wanted.

 

[tehend]

Well no fucking shit. I don't smoke personally but anything that hurts those asshole cartels is worth doing.

 

[InternetHero]

I don't know. Sometimes I think recorded history is a blip in it all and people lack the imagination to comprehend just how many people/civilizations throughout history have done what they wanted.

I would say yes and no.

If we were part of the village, town, and city, the public lives of the past were dominated by the orthodoxy of thought, aristocracy, religious men and others who made up philosophers of Athens aside, and they could see this, and wanted to think about how to change this.

Even then some died for those changes. Reading "The Republic" one really gets a sense for what a kind and thoughtful man Socrates was trying to be.

If you were outside of the village, town, and city, then most had better be a wolf, or know how to run with wolves.

 

[InternetHero]

As a social worker.. weed destroys youngsters future, sad really.

Certainly, certainly. However, as does alcohol, gambling, women, a drive to be "known" on the street, a hunger for violence and chaos, and the tribal call to follow our peers.

Of all those maladies though that young people may consume, marijuana is one of the least damaging wouldn't you say?

 

[kenetics]

Certainly, certainly. However, as does alcohol, gambling, women, a drive to be "known" on the street, a hunger for violence and chaos, and the tribal call to follow our peers.

Of all those maladies though that young people may consume, marijuana is one of the least damaging wouldn't you say?

Wouldn't say the least if you start smoking young. I do believe that it causes frontal lobe delay development to the brain like some studies suggest. I don't believe weed has much effect on the brain if you smoke when you are older.

 

[ShadowRun]

Yea they are too lazy to go out and commit crime

 

[InternetHero]

Wouldn't say the least if you start smoking young. I do believe that it causes frontal lobe delay development to the brain like some studies suggest. I don't believe weed has much effect on the brain if you smoke when you are older.

I certainly respect your first hand experience and expertise as a social worker.

That said, what would you suggest can be done to restrict young people sitting around melting their minds with marijuana at 14?





Full disclosure: I knew a kid from Flint, Michigan who experienced the death of his father at the age of 12, came from an abusive background, and had seen enough things by 13 that made him see like someone who was 23.

The kid could write circles around most people. A true phenom of the English language... then he got into hard drugs, in trouble with the law, and a lot of coke and marijuana later had cooked his mental troubles into a stew of mumbling slacker slurry.

He lost that potential, at least in that form, although gladly I think he is rebounding somewhat to hopefully tell that story.