There were very few murders involving weed in the decades before it was legal. Some yes, in Humboldt and a few areas here and there... and then around 2009 when people were able to get vacant homes during the housing crash and various Asian gangs started growing and competing with other gangs for the black market.
Now of course it is legal. And heavily taxed. And expensive. Stores have to pay retail rents instead of dealing out of small apartments. The black market may be even bigger than it was before it was legal. And possibly more profitable because the legal market has put a higher floor on the value. It’s not like bootlegging liquor, which can be relatively cheap it’s hardly worth bootlegging.
Would make an interesting study - violence, and financial cost before and after the legalization. I voted for medical marijuana but against full legalization. I was in the minority on that second vote.
“Medical” Marijuana was the grease behind legalization.
Stoners came out in droves to vote for unrelated Socialist causes—which I repeatedly documented on these pages.