Global Ganja Report

The RAND Corporation issued a report Sept. 20 dispelling the myth that there are inherent links between medical marijuana dispensaries and crime. The study found that crime is as much as 60% greater where dispensaries had been shut down by the City of Los Angeles compared to those areas with open dispensaries. "[W]e found no evidence that medical marijuana dispensaries in general cause crime to rise," said Mireille Jacobson, the study’s lead author and a senior economist at RAND.

RAND said in a press release that the study "examined crime reports for the 10 days prior to and the 10 days following June 7, 2010, when the city of Los Angeles ordered more than 70% of the city’s 638 medical marijuana dispensaries to close." Researchers analyzed crime reports within a few blocks around dispensaries that closed and compared that to crime reports for neighborhoods where dispensaries remained open. In total, RAND said that "researchers examined 21 days of crime reports for 600 dispensaries in Los Angeles County—170 dispensaries remained open while 430 were ordered to close."

RAND calls its study "the first systematic analysis of the link between medical marijuana dispensaries and crime." However Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck conducted his own study in 2010 comparing the levels of  robberies at banks and dispensaries. Beck's study found that 71 robberies had occurred at the more than 350 banks in the city, compared to 47 robberies at the more than 500 medical marijuana facilities. At the time, Beck observed that "banks are more likely to get robbed than medical marijuana dispensaries," and the claim that dispensaries attract crime "doesn't really bear out."

RAND's study, which challenges the common wisdom that dispensaries promote criminal activity, affirms the findings of patient advocates. "We have reached the same conclusions as RAND, using a qualitative study of public officials with firsthand experience of how dispensaries reduce crime in their neighborhoods," said Steph Sherer, director of Americans for Safe Access (ASA). "Unfortunately, law enforcement has largely ignored or refuted these findings." (ASA, Sept. 20)

Graphic: Herbal Remedies