Marijuana Uses

Marijuana Retail Establishment at 1185 Chestnut Street in Newton Upper Falls. 

During the February Area Council Meeting, Nuestra, LLC (“Nuestra”) presented their proposal to site a Marijuana Retail Establishment at 1185 Chestnut Street in Newton Upper Falls. 

Discussion relative to opposed studies were referenced.  Links to support each position are provided below. 

Research / Reference Links provided by public attendee who raised concern with the proposed marijuana dispensary. 

https://thecrimereport.org/2019/02/19/do-marijuana-dispensaries-cause-rise-in-crime/

https://xtown.la/2019/12/10/pot-may-be-legal-but-crime-at-dispensaries-is-rising/

https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2019/11/20/marijuana-legalization-law-enforcement-safety

https://news.osu.edu/legal-marijuana-stores-lead-to-increases-in-property-crime/

Research /Reference Links provided by the La Nuestra team.

1. Effects of Marijuana Legalization on Law Enforcement and Crime (https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/255060.pdf). In June 2020, researchers from Washington State University, using federal funding provided by the U.S. Department of Justice, published a report that found that “neither cannabis-related crime nor more serious offenses seemed to be affected by legalization”.
   
   
2. The Cannabis Effect on Crime: Time-Series Analysis of Crime in Colorado and Washington State (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07418825.2019.1666903). In October 2019, researchers from Washington State University, the University of Utah and Stockton University, using federal funding provided by the federal National Institute of Justice, published an article stating that the researchers  “observed no statistically significant long-term effects of recreational cannabis laws or the initiation of retail sales on violent or property crime rates in these states” and the researchers’ results “suggest that marijuana legalization and sales have had minimal to no effect on major crimes in Colorado or Washington.”
   
   
3. Not in my backyard? Not so fast. The effect of marijuana legalization on neighborhood crime (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S016604621830293X?via%3Dihub#!). In August 2019, the peer-reviewed academic journal Regional Science and Urban Economics published a paper by two senior economists affiliated with the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia who were studying the effects of marijuana legalization on neighborhood crime. The paper stated that the results “imply that an additional dispensary in a neighborhood leads to a reduction of 17 crimes per month per 10,000 residents, which corresponds to roughly a 19 percent decline relative to the average crime rate over the sample period”. The study concluded that overall, the “results suggest that dispensaries cause an overall reduction in crime in neighborhoods, with no evidence of spillovers to surrounding neighborhoods.” See also https://www.marijuanamoment.net/crime-rates-drop-after-marijuana-dispensaries-open-nearby-study-finds/.
   
   
4. Special Report: Debunking Dispensary Myths (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1osj59y1stEz_vwsxV_O8_3s6rRC9wMLS/view). In May 2019, editors from Leafly and the co-director of the Humboldt Institute for Interdisciplinary Marijuana Research (HIIMR) at Humboldt State University published a literature review of 42 studies, surveys and research papers on the impact cannabis retailers have had on the surrounding communities. The review stated that research suggests that “crime near licensed dispensaries has generally stayed flat or decreased, teen cannabis use in legal states has fallen since legalization, and property values near cannabis outlets generally are not affected or, in some cases, experience a greater value increase than comparable properties not near a cannabis outlet.”