USA: States where cannabis is legal see less violent crime

New research suggests that the introduction of medical cannabis has led to a significant drop in violent crime in the states bordering Mexico.

The study, entitled Is Legal Pot Crippling Mexican Drug Trafficking Organizations? The Effect of Medical Marijuana Laws on US Crime (Does legal cannabis cripple Mexican drug smuggling organizations? The effect of medical cannabis laws on crime in the USA) shows that states close to the Mexican border that have legalized medical cannabis have seen a 13% reduction in violent crime.

«These laws allow local farmers to grow cannabis that can then be sold legally to dispensaries,» explains Evelina Gavrilova, one of the study's authors. «These growers are in head-on competition with the Mexican cartels that smuggle cannabis into the US. The result is that the cartels are doing less business.»

As a result, states are seeing a decline in drug-related violence, according to researchers.

Gavrilova continues: «Cartels compete with each other. They fight for their territory, but it's just as easy to steal another cartel's product and sell it yourself, so they also fight for the product. They also have to defend their territory and make sure there are no witnesses to the cartel's activities.

«Wherever there are medical cannabis laws, we observe that crime at the border decreases because suddenly there's less contraband and less violence associated with it.».

Perhaps the most telling figure is the 41% drop in drug-related homicides, while burglaries fell by 19% and non-drug-related murders by 10%.

The report used FBI data from 1994 to 2002. The strongest effects were felt in California, which saw a 15% reduction in violent crime, compared with 7% for Arizona, the state with the weakest effects. A similar effect had been observed in Washington State.

Gavrilova concludes «when the effect on crime is so great, it's obviously better to regulate cannabis and allow people to pay taxes on it rather than leave it illegal».

30 American states have legalized at least the therapeutic use of cannabis in the United States, in different forms depending on the state.