Cannabis Legalization Allows Police to Focus on More Important Crimes

[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]B[/dropcap]oth Colorado and Washington were the first two states to completely legalize recreational cannabis, with each state’s programs going into effect in January 2014 and July 2014 respectively. Now that four years has passed, there is enough data to surmise how legalization has affected the two states. In the case of a new study, police are now able to focus more on serious crimes, rather than targeting miniscule offenses related to cannabis.

A new study entitled “Marijuana Legalization and Crime Clearance Rates: Testing Proponent Assertions in Colorado and Washington State” was published in Police Quarterly on July 4. Researchers analyzed Uniform Crime Reports data from 2010 to 2015 to discover that crime clearance rates (or how many crimes are solved by law enforcement) have increased since cannabis legalization occurred. “Our models show no negative effects of legalization and, instead, indicate that crime clearance rates for at least some types of crime are increasing faster in states that legalized than in those that did not,” reads the study.

According to the data, crime clearance rates were falling. But only in Colorado and Washington alone did these falling rates begin to increase once cannabis legalization began. Specifically, crimes rates for burglaries and vehicle theft increased. “The clearance rate for these two offenses increased dramatically post legalization,” the study stated. “In contrast, national trends remained essentially flat.”

It’s important to note that cannabis may not be the only contributing factor to the successful crime clearance rates. The study states that things like police working overtime or a change in enforcement could have also played a part. But overall, researchers are fairly certain that cannabis legalization is most likely responsible. “We think the argument that legalization did in fact produce a measurable impact on clearance rates is plausible,” it stated.

This data on crime clearance rates are just a sliver of proof of how cannabis legalization has helped improved recreational states. Studies have also been found that teen cannabis consumption has decreased in Colorado, among others.