From: abmac@dslextreme.com   
      
   Report: Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Not Linked to Neighborhood Crime   
   Study of California dispensaries finds no increased crime levels   
      
   By Jason Koebler   
   June 6, 2012 RSS Feed Print   
      
   It's long been the argument of law enforcement and anti-medical   
   marijuana advocates that the government-sanctioned pot dispensaries   
   cause an uptick in crime, especially burglary and muggings. The only   
   problem is that argument isn't necessarily true, according to a new   
   study funded by the National Institutes of Health.   
      
   On its face, the argument makes sense—medical marijuana dispensaries   
   feature large caches of high quality drugs, and its customers   
   overwhelmingly walk in with a huge wad of cash and walk out with a   
   desirable product. But the study, published in the Journal of Studies on   
   Alcohol and Drugs, found that neighborhoods with medical marijuana   
   dispensaries in Sacramento were no more likely to have crime than other   
   neighborhoods.   
      
   [Your Friendly Neighborhood Pot-Growing Store]   
      
   The study's authors say their research may debunk a 2009 report by the   
   California Police Chiefs Association that said marijuana dispensaries   
   "have been tied to organized criminal gangs, foster large [marijuana   
   growth] operations, and are often multi-million-dollar profit centers."   
      
   "Because they are repositories of valuable marijuana crops and large   
   amounts of cash, several operators of dispensaries have been attacked   
   and murdered by armed robbers both at their storefronts and homes, and   
   such places have been regularly burglarized," the report continues.   
   "Drug dealing, sales to minors, loitering, heavy vehicle and foot   
   traffic in retail areas, increased noise, and robberies of customers   
   just outside dispensaries are also common ancillary by-products of their   
   operations."   
      
   Arguments such as those are common by opponents of medical marijuana   
   legalization, which will soon be available in as many as 17 states and   
   the District of Columbia.   
      
   [Americans Supporting Ending Federal Crackdowns on Medical Marijuana]   
      
   "There's law enforcement and city officials debating whether these   
   dispensaries were attracting undesirables, and there's the other side,   
   the dispensary owners, saying maybe these concerns were unfounded," says   
   co-author Nancy Kepple, a doctoral student at the UCLA Luskin School of   
   Public Affairs. "But neither side had any evidence that supported either   
   claim."   
      
   The UCLA study looked at crime rates in 95 areas of Sacramento in 2009,   
   before the city enacted regulations on where dispensaries could be   
   located and had fewer restrictions on what security measures dispensary   
   operators had to meet.   
      
   "Whatever security measures were done, the owners chose to do it for   
   themselves [in 2009]. We specifically selected this time because it was   
   based on a free-market situation," says Kepple.   
      
   Although the researchers aren't sure why there was no uptick in crime   
   around dispensaries, they suspect that security guards and cameras have   
   an impact on keeping criminals out. Or, as Kepple wrote in the report,   
   it could be that marijuana dispensaries just don't increase crime any   
   "more than any other facility in a commercially-zoned area."   
      
   [Why the Oregon Attorney General Race Has National Implications for   
   Marijuana Laws]   
      
   Several high-profile murders in San Francisco and Hollywood dispensaries   
   and burglaries in San Francisco, Santa Cruz, and Colorado Springs have   
   made dispensary-based crime national news, but those cases aren't   
   representative of a larger trend, Kepple and her co-author, Bridget   
   Freisthler, say.   
      
   "Because of the type of business dispensaries are, any crime there has   
   been well-publicized, bringing more attention to the issue," Freisthler   
   says. "Neighborhood residents get up in arms and it takes a life of its   
   own." She says pot dispensaries appear to be no more likely to be   
   victimized by burglars than liquor stores or other commercial spots.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
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