Legal Weed = Less Crime: FBI Data Shows Surprising Benefits Of Cannabis Legalization

This article was originally published on The Fresh Toast and appears here with permission.

The claim that crime would increase with the legalization of weed was a major talking point, but the data does not support it.

Over 50% of the country has access to legal marijuana now. Ohio and Delaware will start selling from state-licensed dispensaries this year.  Even Florida, the largest nanny state, is voting for full recreational cannabis sales and has 66% public approval.  But what about the claim allowing access to marijuana will increase crime?  Well, data shows legal marijuana expands as hard crime drops.

Data released in June 2024 from the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) show violent crime from January to March dropped 15.2% compared to the same period in 2023, while murders fell 26.4% and reported rapes decreased by 25.7%. Aggravated assaults decreased during the period when compared to the previous year by 12.5%, according to the data. Robberies fell by 17.8% and burglaries by 16.7%. Property crime decreased by 15.1%,  while motor vehicle theft decreased by 17.3%. The declines in violent and property crimes were seen in every region of the US.

This follows a trend from last year when crime dropped in the United States. This makes the argument that legal marijuana increases crime seem odd, as the data does not support it. Both local and national trends show a decline in crime rates, and studies have indicated that cannabis does not increase crime.

Terran Cooper from Falcon Rappaport & Berkman LLP, a leading national law firm with a cannabis division, explained that the argument linking state-legal cannabis programs to increased crime has been a persistent barrier to cannabis legalization and decriminalization. "Despite data to the contrary, many still associate cannabis with criminal activity," Cooper noted. He pointed out that some use localized cannabis-related crimes, such as those in New York, to claim a rise in crime following a state's legalization of recreational or adult-use cannabis.

However, Cooper highlighted an often-overlooked factor: the role of a state's cannabis program in subsequent criminal activity. He explained that significant criminal activity across the U.S. can be linked to cannabis programs that underserve certain regions. For instance, New York removed many criminal penalties associated with cannabis but delayed the establishment of licensed dispensaries for months. Cooper emphasized that the way a state legalizes cannabis, including the viability of licensed businesses to compete with unlicensed ones and general consumer availability, can drastically impact cannabis-related crimes in that state.

“We have consistently seen that more access to legal cannabis not only does not increase crime, but it can reduce it. A study in Colorado showed an additional dispensary in a neighborhood led to a reduction of 17 crimes per month per 10,000 residents, which corresponds to roughly a 19 percent decline relative to the average crime rate over the sample period,” shared Jesse Redmond, Managing Director, Water Tower Research, a leading firm in the cannabis industry.

These numbers do not mean the cannabis industry is clean, do-gooders.  California is still struggling with a robust black market hammering the legal one. California has burdened licensed companies with multiple high taxes and fees, and almost zero help in reducing the black market. The Golden State's weed farmers have been shipping products to New York’s mess despite it being clearly against the law.

New York also seems to be fostering a white-collar crime spree with their failed rollout of recreational marijuana.  The state abruptly changed, at the last minute, and the process to license legitimate dispensaries and businesses in the states has created grief, lawsuits, crushed mom-and-pop dreams and over 1,500 healthy unlicensed, illicit dispensaries in New York City. The state is still grappling with how to fix the mess but isn’t having much success.  As of this writing, the state has only managed to provide under 100 licensed stores that are competing with a vast number of competitors who don’t have the same tax burden.

The reality is that unregulated, unlicensed illicit dispensaries likely number over 2,500 statewide. These illicit dispensaries did not exist before the passage of the MRTA in 2021. The legislation legalized cannabis for personal use and established a regulatory licensing scheme, but arguably failed to enforce against illicit operators who chose to operate outside of this framework. As a result, we now have what can be described as a sub-unregulated market, consisting of illicit shops run by individuals who are neither legacy operators nor have any connection to the cannabis plant other than for profit.

This situation did not arise from legacy operators who historically operated underground deciding to enter the marketplace through smoke shops, bodegas, traditional brick-and-mortar stores, gifting programs, or club-based models. Instead, these illicit dispensaries are run by entrepreneurial, sophisticated, and wealthy businesspeople who saw an economic opportunity and seized it. These individuals have no desire to enter the legal marketplace, as they are currently making anywhere between $15,000 to $40,000 a day, all tax-free.

This article is from an external unpaid contributor. It does not represent Benzinga's reporting and has not been edited for content or accuracy.