What are the ways to reduce crime rates in the United States? Gun control, counseling programs, crackdown on drugs… that list could go on, but you probably didn’t think legalizing marijuana.
According to a new study by a three-member team of economists, the introduction of medical marijuana has helped bring down violent crime cases in states that border Mexico.
The study, titled “Is Legal Pot Crippling Mexican Drug Trafficking Organizations? The Effect of Medical Marijuana Laws on US Crime,” said violent crime fell by 13 percent on average in states located on the Mexican border that have legalized medical use of cannabis.
“These laws allow local farmers to grow marijuana that can then be sold to dispensaries where it is sold legally,” said economist Evelina Gavrilova from the Norwegian School of Economics (NHH), one of the authors of the study. “These growers are in direct competition with Mexican drug cartels that are smuggling the marijuana into the U.S. As a result, the cartels get much less business.”
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