Colorado - Six Months after legalizing marijuana

[Revi]

but you get arrested for having and selling it

its no longer illegal

you are no longer arrested for selling or having it

crime rate down

Yeah those crimes would definitely be down, but murder rates down by 50%? That can't possibly be caused by legalizing pot.

[Yunru]

Yeah those crimes would definitely be down, but murder rates down by 50%? That can't possibly be caused by legalizing pot.

Hm.. lets see.
Oh i am so high....i was suposed to do something today for a boss, but i cant remember.

I think it works.

[cityguy193]

Yeah those crimes would definitely be down, but murder rates down by 50%? That can't possibly be caused by legalizing pot.

Drug related crimes involve murder numerous time. Territorial wars can involve weed.

Take away the drug status, then there is no real drug to fight over, because it becomes as easy to just buy as asprin.

[Deleted]

I'm not surprised by these numbers. I saw it coming. We had experimented the same decrease of crime rates in Portugal, after we voted for the decriminalization of weed back in 2001.
"But, but children will smoke it". Yeah, right...! Fear-mongering much?

I hope the crime rates downward trend continues, and this measure expands to other states.
Congratz, Colorado!

[Ghostpanther]

I'd say wait more than six months to see any kind of measurable results.

This. 6 months is not long enough to get a accurate picture of the impact. Personally I have no issue with legalizing it, as I look at it as no worse than alcohol. It should be restricted the same way however. And I sure as hell do not want to breath the crap out in front of a store like I do at times with those damn cigarette smokers.

[Itisamuh]

Correlation /= causation and all that, but I'm sure there is some relationship. I have a hard time believing legalizing weed would have that big an impact on the crime rates, weed isn't exactly a drug you kill for.

People get mentally addicted to it just like any other drug. Why do you think so many idiots go to jail many times over for it?

[Ghostpanther]

I have really no opinion on legalization or not. Im old school and enjoy being a rebel from time to time. I would say though that this year it was pretty cold in most of the country for longer than normal, so crime was down everywhere it snows. I don't think its a big deal and im not opposed to legalization of it.

This is a good point. Crime in general is higher during the summer. Long cold winters will reduce crime some and we certainly had a long, colder than normal winter in a lot of the US.

[Aitch]

Yeah those crimes would definitely be down, but murder rates down by 50%? That can't possibly be caused by legalizing pot.

The biggest motivator of violent crimes is money. Illegal drug trade = a lot of money.

[Lyese]

The biggest motivator of violent crimes is money. Illegal drug trade = a lot of money.

To piggy back on this, it's not the weed they're killing over, per se, but the turf. If a new drug dealer shows up in an area claimed by another group, then shit's going down. I'd hope this cuts down on situations like this, but as many have pointed out, it's too early to really tell.

[Deleted]

To piggy back on this, it's not the weed they're killing over, per se, but the turf. If a new drug dealer shows up in an area claimed by another group, then shit's going down. I'd hope this cuts down on situations like this, but as many have pointed out, it's too early to really tell.

Do such movie style territory control fights actually happen in real life though? I mean, I can understand with something that's generally imported like heroin, but with weed? Don't most people just get it from like a friend or a friend's friend or something? Like, some guy they know who grows a little more than he uses himself?

[Ger9nG]

Only weed got legalized, which means all the other drugs are still out there being sold illegally. Ergo, the turfs still exists. How can removing one drug out of an equation that consists of so many more have an impact on illegal drugs and gang wars?

Seems like no one has even grazed this discussion.

[Poopymonster]

Correlation /= causation and all that, but I'm sure there is some relationship. I have a hard time believing legalizing weed would have that big an impact on the crime rates, weed isn't exactly a drug you kill for.

If the drug based crime involves possession or intent to distribute pot, and you legalize pot, the numbers go down because....the shit is legal.

[Baladash]

Do such movie style territory control fights actually happen in real life though? I mean, I can understand with something that's generally imported like heroin, but with weed? Don't most people just get it from like a friend or a friend's friend or something? Like, some guy they know who grows a little more than he uses himself?

As Lyese said, its more about territory than the drug itself.

SUPER BASIC EXAMPLE: Street Corners and generalizations

Corner A = $100/h
Corner B = $200/h
Corner C = $300/h
Corner D = $100/h

An "enemy" gang is currently controlling Corners A, B and C and you have D. In order to start making more money you have to take those corners from the opposing gangs. Now no one is going to kill for $100 bucks but if that corner means showing dominance and power then it is worth killing for (in addition to the extra cash flow which in turn gets them more money and power...)

[Aitch]

Only weed got legalized, which means all the other drugs are still out there being sold illegally. Ergo, the turfs still exists. How can removing one drug out of an equation that consists of so many more have an impact on illegal drugs and gang wars?

Seems like no one has even grazed this discussion.

Cannabis has by far the greatest dollar value black market. So it's not at all a stretch to assume that its legalization would greatly impact those things.

https://www.unodc.org/pdf/WDR_2005/volume_1_chap2.pdf

[Deleted]

As Lyese said, its more about territory than the drug itself.

SUPER BASIC EXAMPLE: Street Corners and generalizations

Corner A = $100/h
Corner B = $200/h
Corner C = $300/h
Corner D = $100/h

An "enemy" gang is currently controlling Corners A, B and C and you have D. In order to start making more money you have to take those corners from the opposing gangs. Now no one is going to kill for $100 bucks but if that corner means showing dominance and power then it is worth killing for (in addition to the extra cash flow which in turn gets them more money and power...)

I get that, I just didn't realise that such territory disputes even existed when it came to selling pot. I didn't realise that there were organised or semi organised gangs who controlled territory who actually sold pot and needed to control territory in order to sell it.

[poser765]

I get that, I just didn't realise that such territory disputes even existed when it came to selling pot. I didn't realise that there were organised or semi organised gangs who controlled territory who actually sold pot and needed to control territory in order to sell it.

Well the corner stone of their operation is probably not pot...but pot is just another aspect of their business that they don't want to lose market share of.

[Deleted]

Well the corner stone of their operation is probably not pot...but pot is just another aspect of their business that they don't want to lose market share of.

Sure, but in that case the legalisation of pot isn't going to alter that. Suppose you have a situation where your gang is controlling a bunch of places in order to use those places to sell heroin, extort, run protection rackets, whatever your deal is. On the side of that, you use the territory you control to sell pot. Now pot becomes legal so you can't sell it any more. You still do all the same stuff that you used to. You're not going to stop fighting over the territory you used to fight over because you're still doing all the other shit that you used to do, it's just a little less profitable. If anything, that would suggest you would want to expand into other territories, potentially ones controlled by other groups which could lead to further violence, in order to make the money elsewhere that you would have made selling pot that you now don't make?

[Ghostpanther]

Sure, but in that case the legalisation of pot isn't going to alter that. Suppose you have a situation where your gang is controlling a bunch of places in order to use those places to sell heroin, extort, run protection rackets, whatever your deal is. On the side of that, you use the territory you control to sell pot. Now pot becomes legal so you can't sell it any more. You still do all the same stuff that you used to. You're not going to stop fighting over the territory you used to fight over because you're still doing all the other shit that you used to do, it's just a little less profitable. If anything, that would suggest you would want to expand into other territories, potentially ones controlled by other groups which could lead to further violence, in order to make the money elsewhere that you would have made selling pot that you now don't make?

I am not convinced it will impact the crime rate as much as it appears it may. As stated before, 6 months is not long enough and the pro legalizing officials in the state government will use whatever favorable stats which show it was a good move. The colder than normal winter had more of a impact on the crime rate than they want to admit. Not saying it will not help reduce the crime rate some, because it is one equation taking off the streets. But 50%?

[poser765]

Sure, but in that case the legalisation of pot isn't going to alter that. Suppose you have a situation where your gang is controlling a bunch of places in order to use those places to sell heroin, extort, run protection rackets, whatever your deal is. On the side of that, you use the territory you control to sell pot. Now pot becomes legal so you can't sell it any more. You still do all the same stuff that you used to. You're not going to stop fighting over the territory you used to fight over because you're still doing all the other shit that you used to do, it's just a little less profitable. If anything, that would suggest you would want to expand into other territories, potentially ones controlled by other groups which could lead to further violence, in order to make the money elsewhere that you would have made selling pot that you now don't make?

Oh sure...Absolutely. I get that and am not debating that at all.

[Fooliecoolie]

A 40% drop in the murder rate in a town which has a low crime rate already is not impressive. Denver stats are 11 murders so far compared to 19 murders the previous year in the first 6 months. This article from New Orleans' The Times-Picayune shows some major crimes are down, minor crimes are going up. http://www.nola.com/politics/index.s...e_louisia.html

"Comparing Denver's county- and city-wide crime statistics from the same five-month period from January to May in 2013 and 2014, homicides dropped 42 percent since marijuana was legalized there in January. It's worth noting, though, that Denver has a relatively low murder rate compared to Baton Rouge and New Orleans. The number of murders in Denver dipped from 19 to 11 in five months from 2013 to 2014, whereas Baton Rouge has had 34 murders in the first six months of 2014.

Most violent crime categories, like sex offenses and kidnapping, also saw a drop in Denver since marijuana was legalized. Aggravated assault and kidnapping stayed nearly the same. A notable increase came in simple assault, which increased by just under a third, or 32 percent. Overall, property crimes decreased by about 8 percent.

The only glaring spike, the data show, comes in the disorderly conduct/disturbing the peace category, which increased 85 percent from 89 reports in 2013 to 595 in 2014. Court order violations, trespassing and harassment also saw large increases."