Washington, DC: The opening of state-licensed marijuana retailers does not negatively impact local crime rates, according to data published in the journal Annals of Regional Science.
Researchers with John Hopkins University and the University of Hawaii assessed the relationship between dispensary openings and neighborhood crime rates in Washington state’s three largest cities. Investigators reported that marijuana retailers “have a null effect on average local crime.”
They concluded: “Many North American jurisdictions have legalized the operation of recreational marijuana dispensaries. A common concern is that dispensaries may contribute to local crime. … The random assignment of recreational marijuana retail licenses in Washington State provides a unique opportunity to identify the causal effect of dispensary openings on local crime. … Combining lottery data with detailed geocoded crime data, we estimate that the presence of a dispensary has no significant impact on local crime in the average neighborhood.”
The findings are consistent with those of prior studies concluding that licensed marijuana retailers are typically associated with either no changes or decreases in criminal activity.
Full text of the study, “The impact of recreational marijuana dispensaries on crime: Evidence from a lottery experiment,” appears in Annals of Regional Science. Additional information is available from the NORML Fact Sheet, ‘Societal Impact of Cannabis Dispensaries/Retailers.’