Legalize Pot – Reduce Crime?

Since Denver legalized pot sales, revenue is up and crime is down

This clearly comes from a pro-pot site but it does provide some charts that seem to prove their claim. Something similar happened in Amsterdam, Holland when they legalized drugs and I haven't read anything to say the trend swevred back the other way. Read the story @ http://www.vox.com/2014/5/13/571137...zed-pot-sales-revenue-is-up-and-crime-is-down

 

netherlands hasn't legalized drugs its decriminalized them, there are still laws against posession but they aren't enforced....illegal(unlicensed)sales and smuggling are still crimes...

A better example for what you're looking for is portugal, drug use of all types dropped with decriminalization, they view it as a health issue not a criminal problem...

 

Whether crime drops or rises is entirely irrelevant. By smoking a joint you're doing nothing wrong. If, against all odds, you go out on some sort of drug fueled killer rampage, then and only then should you be imprisoned/shot on sight. Prior to any coercive activity there is no cause. Period.

 

it's not the crime commited while under the influence of drugs it's crime that results from the criminalization of drugs that we want to drop...theft, robberies, assualts, murders, crimes that are part of the acquisition of drugs...

 

Personally I like the black market. Much freer than the alcohol market. Give me a choice and I'll choose the former any day.

Yeah of course criminalization causes problems, but "legalization" (with a million strings attached) brings many more problems for the consumer, depending on connections. All the tyrannies of the black market are bundled into one nice, predictable package: prison. With the "legalized" market state-interference is a constant, inescapable fact of life.

I guess it's all preferences.

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Personally I'm not all that concerned about crime. It's not why I want proper legalization.

 

Since pot is heavily taxed in CO, wouldn't the "underground" sales still be alive and well? I can imagine that crime is reduced in some aspects, while it increased the need for more oversight in others. I.e., who is growing how much, crossing state lines, driving while under the influence....
Booze is legal, but shine is not, and is also a thorn in the side of law enforcement.
So crime may be down, but for how long? To me, its not as clear cut as it may seem at first glance.

 

I understand your point but mind altering substances need to be control as a safety and health concern...its by far the lesser of two evils...

I do believe people should be allowed to grow pot for their own consumption, we already can do that with alcohol...small steps I guess are better than none....

 

Basically, I prefer the cannabis market to the alcohol market, so I'm wary to move towards the latter with the former. Refraining from caging people is one thing, but it never stops there. The state gets its claws in and never releases them.

It's a value thing, a preference call. I'm not concerned with safety and health - that's the risk you take. I completely understand your angle, but I want different things out of the market.

 

yeah if prices get to high due to state taxes an underground market will develop....last time I was in amsterdam the pot cafés were doing a thriving business but people were openly growing their own as well...so it would appear they had reached a price/tax balance...similar to the beer wine situation here, I could make my own but its much more convenient for me to buy it...

 

I just can not see crime going down and staying down for any length of time, Crooks still have to eat don't they? So, they just sell another drug, they have too. Now if you mean minor crime [small possession cases], then big deal, it will amount to practically nothing in the end.

 

organized crime will target what is illegal, remove pot and that knocks off a very big source of revenue for organized crime, illegal pot is multi billion dollar industry...

 

As I said, they will just replace it with something else. They will invent another drug, like this designer stuff we have been hearing about. Or pot that is laced with something illegal, in fact by making pot legal it will be easier for them to push their illegally laced pot.
People always look for better, they will just make it better....

 

But that doesn't hold up in countries where pot has been legalized, pot is far ahead of others as the drug of choice legal or illegal, except for beer which is the number 1 choice in most countries...

 

I am talking about crime exclusively, it will eventually pick up again. They will just make a better pot, why wouldn't they? In countries where it is legal they would not even know how much illegal pot is sold, how would they know,,,it's legal.

So, you could have arrests down, but that does not mean criminals are not selling it. With it being legal you would never have the correct numbers.

So now you have people doing pot with Heroin splashed in,,,great!

 

We can look back on alcohol Prohibition for a very good model regarding marijuana.

Ending alcohol prohibition did a couple of very specific things:
a) Reduced injuries and deaths due to 'bad' alcohol
b) Reduced the violence associated with organized crime protecting large profit margins
c) Moved the flow of cash from alcohol sales from going to violent organized crime to legal alcohol companies, who pay taxes and don't gun down their competitors, and accidentally kill the people standing near them.

End marijuana prohibition will not miraculously stop all crime. But it will end the crime associated with marijuana being illegal. It will reduce the flow of drug money to violent organized crime. I see these as good things.

 

Look, you did it again...
But it will end the crime associated with marijuana being illegal

You wont know whats out there, you will not know what's laced or not. In fact you could be expanding the drug problem with people now using other drugs it's laced with. People that did not use laced pot before, may use it now.

Try and understand, it is human nature for people to want a better high, that's why there is different pot too. So, as time goes by more and more people will wind up smoking laced Pot, and we will never know what number that is. So, you can not compare it to alcohol,,follow?

 

Why won't I? I don't pretend to know what the laws in Colorado or Washington is, but certainly easy to implement purity laws and enforce them. There is no reason to allow 'laced' pot to be legally sold.

Will there be people who try to sell illegally 'laced' pot? I am sure it will happen- but just like legal alcohol- legal pot will crowd out illegal pot.

Ummm I agree it is human nature to want to get a batter high- which applies to alcohol exactly in the same way.

Apply anything you have said to alcohol after Prohibition and there is no difference.

 

That's the point, they wont be able to get the laced pot legally. Thus the black market will grow. Crooks will be back in business with pot.

No, because alcohol is alcohol,,it does not get any better. With pot once it's laced it's a better product, a weaker product [legal] is just not as good, why would it squeeze it out?

It does not apply the same way...The illegal Pot is better, not so with Booze. There is a huge difference.

 

Assuming that is true, how is that an argument against legalizing pot? Or conversely, why wouldn't the exact same argument apply to alcohol?

 

Upon what evidentiary basis could you claim that the black market will grow because of "laced pot"?

 

Do you think that alcohol has never been 'laced'? Or that alcohol cannot be laced?

I doubt that there is any drug that pot could be laced with, that couldn't be used in the same way to 'lace' alcohol.

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What makes 'illegal Pot' better?

Medical Marijuana buyers seem to prefer buying legal pot, rather than illegal pot.

 

Am I the only one who thinks that drug addictions should be treated as a public health concern, and not thought of as criminal activity? I do refuse to acknowledge this, as it fails the third factor test. All correlations need at least a third factor, or maybe a fourth depending on credibility, that proves the observation is a result of this or that.

For example, I can't just say "As taco prices rise, so does the economy"

 

I am speaking about crime, it will not have the hold on crime that many believe. The only danger I see that is different from alcohol is the laced business, people will be now using other drugs. The black market will push it, where as before they had no reason too. Once pot is legal the laced pot will be more in demand, and the crooks will make it easier to get so they can compete.

 

Simply because it is stronger, we have seen it in the past with pot itself and Hash. The stronger usually the better and more sort after. Regular Hash became black Hash, then Tar. Same thing with pot, it went to angel dust...

The kids will fill the market, they wont want Dads old weak Pot,,,LOL,,,it's true.

 

With Booze it's taste, not so with pot,,,

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The bulk of the sales wont be going to people that actually need it medically, I think we can agree on that. It will be bought by people looking for a high, and normally speaking the stronger the better. Laced Pot from what I know is a lot stronger.