Rand study finds less crime near pot dispensaries

[spanone]

Medical marijuana dispensaries — with storerooms of high-priced weed, registers brimming with cash and some clientele more interested in getting high than getting well — are often seen as magnets for crime, a perception deepened by a few high-profile murders.

But a report from the Rand Corp. reaches a startling conclusion: The opposite appears to be true.

In a study of crime near Los Angeles dispensaries — which the investigators call the most rigorous independent examination of its kind — the Santa Monica-based think tank found that crime actually increased near hundreds of pot shops after they were required to close last summer.

"What I would take away from it is maybe there should just be a little bit less fear about having dispensaries," said Mireille Jacobson, a health economist who was the lead researcher. "Hopefully, this injects a little bit of science into the discussion."

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0928-marijuana-dispensaries-20110921,0,7776989.story

[Robb]

1. Interesting study, but that headline's a touch inaccurate.

Another way of putting it would be "study finds more crime near closed dispensaries than those that are open." :shrug:

[BrendaBrick]

2. A couple of interesting articles about the Netherlands:

Dutch youth: less crime, more alcohol
Published on 31 May 2011 - 11:08am

Crime among teenagers and young adults in the Netherlands appears to be decreasing.

The justice ministry’s Research and Documentation Centre reports that in 2008, for the first time in years, fewer community service sentences were imposed on minors (between the age of 12 and 18).

For the first time in years, the Centre also recorded a decrease in young adults (between the age of 18 and 24) engaged in criminal activity.

However, the number of young people admitted to hospital for alcohol poisoning has gone up substantially.

Last year, doctors treated 684 young people who had too much to drink. This was an increase of 37 percent compared to 2009, when 500 young people were admitted in connection with alcohol abuse.

These figures feature in the report Alcoholic intoxication among young people in the Netherlands. The report was published on Tuesday by researchers at the University of Twente and a number of hospitals in the main western conurbation of the Netherlands.

(gsh/kh/nc)

© Radio Netherlands Worldwide http://www.rnw.nl/english/bulletin/dutch-youth-less-crime-more-alcohol

Drug-Friendly Netherlands to Close 8 Prisons -- Not Enough Crime
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Submitted by Marijuana Policy Project on May 26, 2009

By Bruce Mirken

For years prohibitionists, including our own Drug Enforcement Administration, have claimed — falsely — that the tolerant marijuana policies of the Netherlands have made that nation a nest of crime and drug abuse. They may have trouble wrapping their little brains around this:

The Dutch government is getting ready to close eight prisons because they don’t have enough criminals to fill them. Officials attribute the shortage of prisoners to a declining crime rate.

Just for fun, let’s compare the Netherlands to California. With a population of 16.6 million, the Dutch prison population is about 12,000. With its population of 36.7 million, California should have a bit more than double the Dutch prison population. California’s actual prison population is 171,000.

So, whose drug policies are keeping the streets safer?

Source: http://www.opposingviews.com/i/drug-friendly-netherlands-to-close-8-prisons-not-enough-crime

[mdmc]

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