cannabisnews.com: Marijuana Smoking, Crime Focus of Research





Marijuana Smoking, Crime Focus of Research
Posted by CN Staff on November 12, 2003 at 22:38:33 PT
Nation & World
Source: South Bend Tribune 
Smoking marijuana doesn't lead to violent crime, but it may lead to more arrests of stoned criminals who engage in acts of violence, according to two economists.Rosalie Liccardo Pacula of the RAND Corp. and Harvard University graduate student Beau Kilmer found that crooks under the influence of marijuana were more likely to get caught, though pot smokers apparently were no more likely to commit a violent crime in the first place.
(But watch out for alcohol abusers, Pacula said: People under the influence of booze were more likely to commit violent crimes than people who hadn't been drinking.)Pacula and Kilmer also found a positive correlation between marijuana use and arrests for property and other "income producing" offenses such as robbery and prostitution, which could either be explained by the notion that people are more likely to commit nonviolent crimes while under the influence -- or, again, because they are more likely to get arrested, Pacula said.Pacula said their findings come with bushels of caveats. While the results are statistically significant, the researchers say they don't have enough data to estimate the overall impact of marijuana use on crime -- just that there's some effect. She also warned that pot smoking could be linked to some kinds of violent crimes such as rape, but not to others.Their findings were based on a detailed analysis of national survey data collected from arrestees and FBI crime reports. The results appear in a working paper published this week by the National Bureau of Economic Research. The Washington Post Source: South Bend Tribune (IN) Published: November 12, 2003 Copyright: 2003 South Bend TribuneContact: vop sbtinfo.comWebsite: http://www.southbendtribune.com/NBERhttp://www.nber.org/CannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml
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Comment #13 posted by FoM on November 13, 2003 at 16:53:24 PT
Thanks Richard
It really upsets me too. 
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Comment #12 posted by RCCowan on November 13, 2003 at 16:49:24 PT:
Marijuana and crime
Most crime is committed by young males, who tend to be the heaviest consumers of cannabis, so there will always be some sort of correlation. Obviously, almost all rape is committed by young males, so that would have an especially high correlation. I have written on this a few times.
See
Crime Declined Sharply London Area With De Facto Decrim. The Narks Caught In Yet Another Lie. Surprise! Surprise! 
(http://marijuananews.com/news.php3?sid=524 )
and
"Young men who take cannabis are five times more likely to be violent than those who avoid the drug." No, But I Am At Least Five Times More Likely to Be Violent When I Read This Sort Of Crap. 
http://www.marijuananews.com/news.php3?sid=476I would like to see a study on the connection between crime and wearing sneakers. Richard Cowan
Marijuana Smoking and Crime
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Comment #11 posted by Jose Melendez on November 13, 2003 at 09:13:43 PT
grin and bear it
Jeb Bush jokes people of San Francisco may be endangered
 Mayor Willie Brown laughs it offBy JACKIE HALLIFAX
 Associated Press TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Gov. Jeb Bush joked during a Florida Cabinet meeting Wednesday that the people of San Francisco may be endangered and, "That's probably good news for the country."The subject was environmental land and Bush was looking at a map showing locations with a lot of different wildlife."It looks like the people of San Francisco are an endangered species, which may not be a bad thing. That's probably good news for the country."People in the room broke into laughter"Did I just say that out loud?" the governor asked. 
(snip)Bush spokesman Jacob DiPietre later explained the governor's thinking: "The Cabinet was talking about endangered species and everyone knows that Republicans are an endangered species in California."(snipped)
 
Sin no more.
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Comment #10 posted by Jose Melendez on November 13, 2003 at 08:49:48 PT
our kharma trumps their dogma
Liberal, liberal, liberal is WAY better than criminal, criminal, criminal.
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Comment #9 posted by Virgil on November 13, 2003 at 07:44:12 PT
This demonizing beats that demonizing
There is an article up at marijuana.com- http://www.marijuana.com/article.php?sid=7864&mode=nested&order=0 - from the UK that is even worse than this one. Cognitive dissonance is going to zoom when GW introduces their extracts. How do you resolve "It will kill you" with "It will save your life?"Here is the first five paragraphs of all out demonization from the original source- http://www.thisisnorthdevon.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=103353&command=displayContent&sourceNode=103342&contentPK=7732478The "soft" drug cannabis is a hard-nosed killer, South Devon coroner Hamish Turner has warned a parliamentary committee.Mr Turner, speaking at a House of Commons conference on drugs, estimated the substance was a contributory factor in 10 of the 100 suicides, overdoses and accidental deaths he dealt with last year. He told MPs and other VIPs: "Cannabis is as dangerous as any other drug. People must understand that it kills."His comments came just days after MPs voted through plans to reclassify cannabis from Class B to a "less harmful" Class C drug. Mr Turner, former president of the Coroners' Society, said: "It is an awful waste of young lives."People are trying cannabis at a very young age and many go on to harder drugs. Increasingly it's mentioned as the first drug taken by people who overdose as well as in suicides and accidental deaths."Parents of tragic offspring often told him: "We didn't realise how dangerous it was until it was too late. If only we had done something."
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Comment #8 posted by Dark Star on November 13, 2003 at 05:41:28 PT
Another Case of Garbage In Garbage Out
The only way that they could correlate marijuana use to these statistics would be with urine testing. The positive results may have meant that the "perp" smoked 3 weeks ago. That says nothing about causation in crime. They don't say how many also had alcohol or other drug issues (such as cocaine or meth). I thought that they thought that marijuana makes you a lifeless slug (read amotivational syndrome). According to their conventional wisdom, it motivates to rape and pillage. Sounds like the old assassin myth. Better commissions than this have already decided that marijuana does not cause crime: LaGuardia, IOM, LeDain, Wootton.
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Comment #7 posted by kaptinemo on November 13, 2003 at 05:21:34 PT:
Fuzzy (at best) logic at work
I sincerely hope these people weren't publicly funded. With results as nebulous as these, I'd want my money back...
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Comment #6 posted by goneposthole on November 13, 2003 at 05:10:47 PT
crimes get committed
Go to your local library, sit down, read your local newspaper on microfiche film of copies from yesteryear. There was plenty of crime back then, especially during the years of prohibition of alcohol. Raids at farms where alcohol was suspected of being stashed. People committing robberies, the whole nine yards. Always has been crime. Some criminals smoke cannabis.Hows about Rush? Is he a criminal? Hows about George Bush? 
He went awol. Is he a criminal? Corporations renege on paying their taxes and the US treasury is shorted trillions, are they criminals? Just so you know how long crime has been going on:Thomas Blood (1618 - August 24, 1680) was an English Colonel who is best known for stealing the Crown Jewels of England from the Tower of London in 1671 http://en2.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Blood
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Comment #5 posted by BigDawg on November 13, 2003 at 04:37:23 PT
Standard prohib schlock
"She also warned that pot smoking COULD be linked to some kinds of violent crimes such as rape, but not to others."Emphasis added.Its simple really. Make a conjecture. Use terms like could or might. Have an "expert" say it.Instant stupidity..... 
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Comment #4 posted by OverwhelmSam on November 13, 2003 at 00:17:35 PT:
Oh My God! Not Again,.
Please stop. I'm so tired of this "Drugs cause crime" argument. The fact is that people will commit crimes against others whether they are on drugs or not. They just happen to be smoking weed and/or taking other drugs too. If someone commits a crime like murder, they need to go to jail whether the were under the influence of any drug or not. Stop blaming it on the drugs!
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Comment #3 posted by RasAric on November 13, 2003 at 00:04:08 PT
FoM & SHISH
Oh my goodness!!! I do believe I'm catching a wiff of that good ol' "Reefer Madness". Uh yeah SHISHALDIN, some more of that ONDCP funding would certainly help us in pulling our heads out of our "arses"...so why does it keep getting darker?Are these worthless souls for real?"....Beau Kilmer found that crooks under the influence of marijuana were more likely to get caught"...This is interesting. The Rastafarians use cannabis spiritually as sacrament. Often this is synonymous with the truth.Check the following link. http://www.levity.com/aciddreams/samples/oss.htmlThis may explain the reason for Beau Kilmers conclusion. Funny how these drug warriors ignore history, even though it might help answer their questions(oh yeah by ignoring history they can run the study more and receive more research grants...and still they repeat their mistakes)
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Comment #2 posted by Shishaldin on November 12, 2003 at 23:31:19 PT
Full of Sound and Fury...
...signifying nothing."Pacula said their findings come with bushels of caveats. While the results are statistically significant, the researchers say they don't have enough data to estimate the overall impact of marijuana use on crime -- just that there's some effect."Sloppy data in, sloppy results out. Sad, but not surprising. "So, what conclusion DID you come to in your study?" "UH, it needs to be studied some more. Gotta gather more, um, data. Can I get more of that ONDCP funding now, Mr. Walters?"And, seriously, when was the last time you saw a violent pot smoker who HADN'T been drinking?"Pacula said: People under the influence of booze were more likely to commit violent crimes than people who hadn't been drinking."No ambiguity there, hmmmmmm....
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on November 12, 2003 at 22:51:50 PT
Where Did This Come From?
I looked at this article and thought it was from years ago but it isn't.How did they come to this conclusion? She also warned that pot smoking could be linked to some kinds of violent crimes such as rape, but not to others.
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