SAN DIEGO, CA — State-licensed marijuana retailers are not magnets for serious criminal activity, according to a six-month analysis of law enforcement data conducted by the Voice of San Diego newspaper.
Reporters reviewed emergency calls between January and June 2018 – the first six-months during which state-licensed retailers were permitted to operate within the city. Investigators determined that relatively few calls were directly related to any of the city’s 13 licensed storefronts, and that “most of the requests for police assistance were low-priority” in nature – such as responding to false security alarms.
“Those findings should reassure not just San Diegans who might live near a dispensary, but also officials across the country who’ve expressed concern that legal marijuana storefronts will attract crime,” the report concluded.
Prior studies have similarly failed to report a relationship between the establishment of cannabis retailers and an uptick in neighborhood crime.
Tags: crime, marijuana dispensaries, marijuana legalization, medical marijuana dispensaries
