The economist Paul Seabright has recently reported a study that compares the evolution of the violent crimes rate after the legalization of medical marijuana in some American states with the violent crimes rate in the states that have not resorted to Cannabis legalization.
The effects of the decriminalization of some illicit drugs are complex and difficult to predict
The public discussion around this perspective, it is still passionate, especially around the impact that decriminalization can have in several areas such as consumption, the quality of substances sold, the health of the consumers, their other consumption habits, the degree of criminality to which the trade is associated to, and many other aspects.
Cannabis legalization can reduce the violent crimes rate
A somehow recent study assesses the crime-related effects of decriminalization of marijuana used for medical purposes (Medical Marijuana Legalization), implemented by several US states in recent years.
The study entitled “The Effect of Medical Marijuana Laws on US Crime” was conducted by Evelina Gavrilova, Takuma Kamada, and Floris Zoutman, and was published in the Economic Journal on November 16th, 2017.
Now, the Paul Seabright report, based on the before-mentioned study, reveals that, statistically, Cannabis legalization led to a lowering of the violent crime rate in the US states where medical Marijuana has been decriminalized.
According to Seabright, Cannabis decriminalization will reduce such unpleasant occurrences as it will directly combat illicit trafficking.
Medical Marijuana legalization is also a method to fight drugs trafficking
It is important to note here that Medical Marijuana legalization decriminalizes not only consumption, under certain conditions, but also the production. Thus, the governments of the US states where cannabis legalization has already been implemented create competition with clandestine criminal organizations, especially of Mexican origin, which until now controlled the vast majority of production destined for the American market.
In conclusion, Cannabis legalization has been statistically proved to reduce the violent crime rate of the US states where it has been established, in comparison with the violent crime rate of the US states where Marijuana is still illegal.
