Marijuana Shops Lower Crime Rates!

[3113]

From here:

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.

Well, duh! The stoners I know aren't inclined to do much of anything, let alone commit a crime.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Hey, a good buzz and who wants to do anything illegal? Who wants to do anything, at all, for that matter?

 

[Boxlicker101]

I think it's fairly common knowledge that MJ does not induce violence. Drunks fight all the time, but stoners are usually the most peaceful people in the world.

Of course, most people who oppose legalization tend to ignore those facts.

 

[TE999]

Mary Jane is the cause of crime simply because it is illegal, people want it anyway and there's money to be made by those willing to break the law. Think moonshine stills and cigarette smuggling.

Legalize it, tax it, two problems solved. Fuck the hypocritical bible thumpers, the nosy-pokes and the busybodies. ! MYOB.

 

[Boxlicker101]

Mary Jane is the cause of crime simply because it is illegal, people want it anyway and there's money to be made by those willing to break the law. Think moonshine stills and cigarette smuggling.

Legalize it, tax it, two problems solved. Fuck the hypocritical bible thumpers, the nosy-pokes and the busybodies. ! MYOB.

There is another group, and it is their business - the wine and liquor industries. If MJ were legal and as easily available as alcohol is now, many more people would make it their drug of choice, drastically cutting into the sales of alcohol. I have no proof of this, but it stands to reason. They are both recreational drugs, but MJ has fewer negative effects. I've been stoned and I've been drunk in my life, and stoned is a much better condition, mostly because of the lack of hangovers and other problems.

 

[JackLuis]

I saw an article where researchers found that MJ prevented PTSD in rats if given soon after the traumatic event. Finally a use for Afghanistan, PTSD prevention!

 

[markgander]

A nice federal excise tax on marijuana tax, plus state sales tax, and you can raise some serious revenue. The next step is to end civil forfeiture, thus restoring private property rights in this country, as well as scrapping mandatory minimum sentences and granting a general amnesty to anyone convicted of non-violent possession and sale of marijuana.

Think of the reduced costs of no longer prosecuting harmless potheads and no longer jailing them.

 

[3113]

There is another group, and it is their business - the wine and liquor industries. If MJ were legal and as easily available as alcohol is now, many more people would make it their drug of choice, drastically cutting into the sales of alcohol. I have no proof of this, but it stands to reason. They are both recreational drugs, but MJ has fewer negative effects. I've been stoned and I've been drunk in my life, and stoned is a much better condition, mostly because of the lack of hangovers and other problems.

I can understand where the wine and liquor industries might think this, and be unhappy about MJ legalization (as compared to tobacco companies who have been poised for decades to sell marijuana cigarette should they ever become legal). However, Amsterdam aside, it really wouldn't hurt the liquor folk as people just don't see MJ as a social activity.

You may or may not smoke MJ with friends, but most people see it as a back room or home activity. Granted, this is because it hasn't been legal, but it's also because it mellows one out; people want the surroundings comfortable, not a social scene. People identify drinking with socializing and sex. You don't go out to dinner with a woman and order up bowls to smoke, and you don't go to a bar and buy a guy or a girl a special brownie in hopes of picking them up. And while you can add MJ to cocktails, you can't use it to make a dozen different pretty or sexy cocktails. Liquor will always have that sexy, fun cachet.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

And it actually tastes good. MJ is just smoke.

 

[AllardChardon]

I am rather sad to see pot smokers portrayed as lazy, couch potato types here. As a medical MJ patient in CA for 11 years now, I am one of the busiest people I know, even though I do take smoke breaks, often. Pot does not make a person lazy, folks. Yes, certain strains have a heavier effect, like Train Wreck, but there is plenty of "upper" pot out there for active people like me, like White Widow. I can only assume the stereotype casting is from non-smokers.

 

[Boxlicker101]

I am rather sad to see pot smokers portrayed as lazy, couch potato types here. As a medical MJ patient in CA for 11 years now, I am one of the busiest people I know, even though I do take smoke breaks, often. Pot does not make a person lazy, folks. Yes, certain strains have a heavier effect, like Train Wreck, but there is plenty of "upper" pot out there for active people like me, like White Widow. I can only assume the stereotype casting is from non-smokers.

The negative stereotypes are also from anti-pot TV commercials.

 

[AllardChardon]

And another thing for the record. Taste.

The strains these days are soooo tasty, they rival any beer or wine on the market, and all without the liver damage, calories, drowsiness and drunken antics, akin to the almighty alcohol set.

Straight alcohol does not taste good, at all. How many times have you seen a kid try a sip, gasp, and then wonder what the hell is wrong with your tastebuds? hahaha

 

[3113]

The strains these days are soooo tasty, they rival any beer or wine on the market, and all without the liver damage, calories, drowsiness and drunken antics, akin to the almighty alcohol set.

Fair enough, but that still doesn't overcome the ingrained meme of cocktails as social and sexual. When pot is legalized and ads make it look social and sexual, then we'll see if wine and liquor folk suffer.

But I seriously doubt that the guys watching football are going to give up their beer, or fine dinners their wine, or bar folk their cocktails and aperitifs. However tasty the mj is. More likely people will mix the two.

 

[Boxlicker101]

Fair enough, but that still doesn't overcome the ingrained meme of cocktails as social and sexual. When pot is legalized and ads make it look social and sexual, then we'll see if wine and liquor folk suffer.

But I seriously doubt that the guys watching football are going to give up their beer, or fine dinners their wine, or bar folk their cocktails and aperitifs. However tasty the mj is. More likely people will mix the two.

I would not say that wineries and distilleries will go out of business if MJ is legalized, but they will lose business. As for social, I well remember sitting around and passing a joint, just as I remember sitting around passing around a bottle of wine. I also realize that last activity is not what you mean.

There are people who come home from work or whatever and share wine or cocktails with their SO or friends. Some of these people would share a joint instead, and avoid the health problems often related to alcohol. I suspect pot bars would open and people would stop by and mellow out a bit on the way home. Wine and booze people have to be aware of those possibilities, which is why they fight legalization of MJ.

I also think you're right about watching football, etc. and drinking beer, and fine diners will still drink their wine with meals. Distilleries and makers of cheap wine would lose the most business.

 

[AllardChardon]

I want to make wine with buds. Purple Kush Concord, Bosenberry Budwine,
Blueberry Merlot, OG Kush Cabernet, the possibilities are endless...