You know what? Within 1 mile of my house there are 3 liquor stores, 1 tobacco specialty store and at least 7 gas stations all of which sell tobacco and soft alcohol. Outside every liquor store I see bums and alcoholics looking on the verge of death. Outside the gas stations are homeless people begging for money and coughing their lungs out drinking cheap wine and beer and smoking cigarettes.
RAND Report Confirms ASA Findings on Regulated Collectives
A report from the respected RAND Corporation has confirmed that medical cannabis dispensaries do not increase crime in their neighborhoods. On the contrary, they reduce it.
The report compared crime reported in areas around dispensaries in Los Angeles while they were operating and after they were closed by order of the LA City Council, as well as those that remained open. RAND found that crime rates more than doubled in the neighborhoods where the medical cannabis collectives were forced to close.
That finding is consistent with statewide data gathered in California over many years by Americans for Safe Access (ASA). Public officials from one end of the state to the other have reported that sound regulations for the operation of dispensaries have resulted in less crime and fewer community complaints.
“Regulated dispensaries don’t just provide safe access for the elderly and most seriously ill,” said ASA Executive Director Steph Sherer. “They make the community safer.”
The RAND study examined Los Angeles crime data within a 10-day window before and after June 7, 2010, the date on which the LA City Council ordered the vast majority of the city’s 600-plus dispensaries to close. RAND compared crime reports between neighborhoods where dispensaries closed and those where dispensaries remained open. A total of 600 were included -- 170 dispensaries that remained open and 430 that were ordered closed.
The researchers found that within three blocks of a closed dispensary, crime increased an average of 60 percent.
The impact of medical cannabis dispensaries on crime in their communities has been a source of debate for more than a decade. Opponents to medical cannabis collectives in Los Angeles and elsewhere have argued that dispensaries are “magnets” for criminal activity.
Yet banks attract far more crime than dispensaries, according to the Los Angeles Police Chief, who reviewed the previous year’s statistics for the city in 2010. And a 2007 study by a UCLA researcher found that you are safer within 100 feet of a medical cannabis dispensary than you are that close to a restaurant, bar or liquor store.
“The additional safety medical cannabis dispensaries provide should come as no surprise,” said Sherer. “They add a clear security presence to their neighborhoods that benefits everyone.”
More than five dozen California cities and counties have established regulations for the safe distribution of medical cannabis in their communities. Other medical cannabis states such as Maine and New Mexico have established state-regulated distribution systems to provide medicine to qualified patients.
Arizona, Washington and Rhode Island are among the states that had or were considering regulated distribution programs but have halted them after receiving threats of federal prosecution from the U.S. Attorney’s office in their states.
More information:
RAND Study on Dispensaries and Crime
ASA Report on Dispensary Regulations
