RESEARCH
CONFIRMS LEGALIZING MEDICAL MARIJUANA DOES NOT INCREASE CRIME
Yet
More Proof Fears of Legalization Remain Unfounded in Science
Researchers at the University of Texas Dallas
published an article in PLOS
ONE today that indicates that despite opponents’ fears, legalizing
medical marijuana does not increase crime and may actually lower some types of violent
crime. The study examined FBI Uniform Crime Report statistics on murder, rape,
assault, robbery, burglary, larceny and auto theft from all 50 states, including
11 states that legalized medical marijuana during the course of the study, over
a 17 year period from 1990-2006. Controlling for confounding factors, they
found no increases in any category of offense and even saw a slight decrease in
homicides and assaults.
The study is reminiscent of a University
of Chicago study that came out last year showing that, despite opponents’
warnings about increases in unsafe driving behaviors, legalizing medical
marijuana was associated with a drop in traffic fatalities. In addition, preliminary
figures in Colorado
and Washington,
the two states to have legalized marijuana for recreational use, show traffic fatalities
in those states have slightly decreased the first year of full legalization.
“It must be difficult to be an opponent of marijuana
reform. They can’t make arguments against legalization based on logic and facts
so they must constantly resort to fear-based hypotheticals and anecdotes that
keep getting proved wrong by systematic study. I feel for them. I really do,”
said Major Neill Franklin (Ret.), a police officer for 34 years who now heads Law Enforcement Against Prohibition,
a group of law enforcement officials opposed to the war on drugs.
###
And this is a surprize why? As a youth I was bullied. Badly. I was afraid to go to school and my grades showed it. Getting slammed in the hallways, pencils jammed into your head during classes, threats of bodily harm daily... graduating HS was being released from prison. In the years that followed those bullies I had known that used pot became good people. Those that didn't or drank alcohol, several ended up committing murders as it actually turned out.
ReplyDeleteDoes marijuana promote or inspire violent behavior? If it does, that's news to me. If you've got a stash of gold coins that burglars want and they threaten you, is violence not routine for the person being threatened? Get real, marijuana is a commodity! It's not a machine gun, it's not rape or murder... it's a natural plant which is called an agricultural commodity. How does it get from there to "a cause for violence" when everyone knows alcohol is the drug that incites violence, and it's totally legal for adults?
The greatest service which can be rendered any country is to add a useful plant to its culture.
ReplyDelete- Thomas Jefferson
Hemp is of first necessity to the wealth and protection of the country.
- Thomas Jefferson
And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree,
- Genesis 1:29
He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man:
- Psalm 104:14
We shall, by and by, want a world of hemp more for our own consumption.
- John Adams
Legalize Cannabis Freedom !
@ Ruben... Amen!
ReplyDeleteWhy cannabis is illegal ...
ReplyDelete1) Some people have very little knowledge of the plant and are therefore irrationally scared of it.
2) They like to lock people up and have an easy reason to do so.
3) Evil people don't want the masses to have the medical benefits of cannabis and its cannabinoids and to be healthy.
4) Cannabis hemp provides an alternative via bio fuels, cannabis oils, and many other products therefore reducing the need for crude oil and creating competition to petroleum products.
5) Prohibition produces an underground monopoly on cannabis providing higher prices, bigger profits, and fewer competition to the cartels that sell it.
6) They like to scar people's records with misdemeanors and felonies trying to make life harder for people.
7) Prohibition provides big business for private prisons, lawyers, attorneys, police, judges, politicians, etc.
8) Medical marijuana programs create another form of monopoly by limiting freedom. Money made on doctor vists, cannabis cards, they only allow dispensaries in certain areas causing some people to travel long distances, and they only allow a select few to operate dispensaries. They make you pay a fee upfront to get a cannabis card and make you see a doctor and pay to renew it every year.
Evil people enforcing evil unjust laws.
Legalize Cannabis Freedom !