[rktman]

LOL! I must be a really bad person since I find humor in this. No doubt the dopers will have some incoherent 'splanation for this rise in crime. Dude!

[dirtboy]

Crime has been increasing all over the country. These stats would have more validity in that context.

I would say the larger-scale imposition of liberal values is the core reason.

[Fai Mao]

I laughed too

[Stayingawayfromthedarkside]

Remember these are sanctuary cities as well.

[Monty22002]

Liberalism.

[Salamander]

Dave’s not here, man.

[Mr. K]

what kind of ‘crime’?

That’s kind of an important fact to leave out here, isn’t it?

[umgud]

Here in my town, we have medical MJ stores. Several have been robbed, a couple of store workers killed.

[Texas Eagle]

Marijuana use. The only victimless crime.

Am I right, Libertarians?! Up high!

[Texas Eagle]

Now, now. There's no evidence to support the conclusion that these crimes are being committed to support a marijuana habit.

They could be being committed to support a food stamps habit. Or an ObamaCare habit. Or a free cell phone habit. Or a 15 dollar minimum wage habit. Or a welfare habit.

Wait. You don't suppose there's some sort of connection, do you? Nahhhhhhhhh.

[tacticalogic]

Didn’t Denver start blanket denials of CCW Permits about the same time?

[Wolfie]

Think of how much crime would drop if we re-criminalized alcohol.

[Monty22002]

I listened to a lecture about addiction, and the asshole when it came to pot just couldn’t get past the correlation vs cause thing. He said it affects the same brain functions as heroin and other addictions, but he couldn’t do it. Pissesd me the the F off. Treats pot with kid gloves when it’s one of the most addictive substances out there.

[SkyDancer]

Little crime when it was illegal and big crime when it is. Fascinating.

[BBB333]

Let us recall all of the businesses that have closed in Seattle due to the $15.00 per hour minimum wage.

Has to have some type of effect upon the crime statistics as well...

[tiki]

I don’t know. The marijuana smokers I know are slugs. They don’t have enough energy or ambition to commit crimes.

[Seruzawa]

Potheads can’t hold jobs very well. Eventually they turn to crime. I remember the 70s very well and the numbers of times I got ripped off by hippies. They had a very one way idea about “sharing”.

[Blue Collar Christian]

No fan of legalized MJ myself, but the observation used in this article is reported without the benefit of the truly ample data, and is therefor invalid.

After gathering information from ALL that is available about the increase in crime, including any trends in crime in non-affected states, ethnicity of the perps, exact natures of the crimes committed, other legislation, etc., this may well be an accurate assessment.

[moehoward]

Crime is up everywhere not just in legal pot states. In the Seattle area, there might be some uptick in property crime from dealers who have lost their “jobs”. Also from nonessential employees thanks to the new minimum wage requirements.

[ConservingFreedom]

"[a]dult possession of marijuana became legal [in Washington State] on December 6, 2012, 30 days after the passage of I-502, the voter-approved initiative legalizing marijuana for adults 21 and older. A year-and-a-half later, the first retail marijuana store opened its doors on July 8, 2014." [...] The number of these crimes was stable or declining from 2008 through 2012, after which total crimes jumped 13 percent from 2012 to 2013.

So the legality of pot was increasing crime even before anyone could actually buy legal pot?! LMAO! The Ameican "Thinker" is a dolt.

[ConservingFreedom]

Denver, Colorado may not be the only major American city seeing an increase in crime following marijuana legalization.

One sentence in and wrong already.

"According to government data, the Denver city- and county-wide murder rate has dropped 52.9% since recreational marijuana use was legalized [...] major property crimes are down 11.5% compared to the same period in 2013." - http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3175168/posts