Medical marijuana outlets not linked to crime

Despite some concerns to the contrary, neighborhoods with medical marijuana dispensaries may not have higher crime rates than other neighborhoods - at least in one California city.

That's the conclusion of a new study in the July issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. Researchers found that, across Sacramento neighborhoods, there was no evidence that having a higher density of medical marijuana dispensaries was related to higher rates of violent crime or property crime.

As more U.S. states have legalized the use of marijuana for medical reasons, there have been growing concerns that the dispensaries that sell the drug - and the people who go there - will become targets for crime.

"The reality is, we haven't had any evidence to support those claims," said Nancy J. Kepple, M.S.W., a researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles, who led the new study.

Kepple and her colleague, Bridget Freisthler, Ph.D., looked at violent and property crime rates and the density of medical marijuana outlets in 95 different areas of Sacramento in 2009. Not surprisingly, commercial districts and neighborhoods with high unemployment rates tended to have more property crime and violent crime. But there was no correlation between crime and the concentration of medical marijuana outlets.

"This conclusion suggests that we should further question whether medical marijuana dispensaries are related to crime," Kepple said.

But, she stressed, the study is far from the final word. The researchers looked at neighborhoods at only one point in time. So it's not clear whether a neighborhood's crime patterns might change over time, after more medical marijuana dispensaries are opened.

Federal Marijuana Laws The federal government regulates drugs through the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) (21 U.S.C. § 811), which does not recognize the difference between medical and recreational use of marijuana. These laws are generally applied only against persons who possess, cultivate, or distribute large quantities of marijuana.

Under federal law, marijuana is treated like every other controlled substance, such as cocaine and heroin. The federal government places every controlled substance in a schedule, in principle according to its relative potential for abuse and medicinal value. Under the CSA, marijuana is classified as a Schedule I drug, which means that the federal government views marijuana as highly addictive and having no medical value. Doctors may not "prescribe" marijuana for medical use under federal law, though they can "recommend" its use under the First Amendment.

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), charged with enforcing federal drug laws, has taken a substantial interest in medical marijuana patients and caregivers in general, and large cultivation and distribution operations more specifically. Over the past few years, dozens of people have been targets of federal enforcement actions. Many of them have either been arrested or had property seized. More than a hundred are currently in prison or are facing charges or ongoing criminal or civil investigations for their cultivation or distribution of medical marijuana.