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Colorado Marijuana Statistics Prove Law Enforcement Was Wrong

By David Dunford
Published on: 14:11 PST, Apr 10, 2014

Marijuana sales in Colorado on New Years Day, when it first became legal for recreational use, was met with harsh criticism by state law officials who claimed that legalization would turn the tranquil streets of Denver into a crime-filled nightmare where children roamed the streets smoking blunts and with shady pot pimps in every storefront greedily trying to push grass on their next victim. Douglas County Sheriff David Weaver, a staunch adversary of marijuana legalization in his state, claimed in 2012 that if the proposition in favor of marijuana were to succeed, all of his state would pay the price.

The numbers coming out of the first fiscal quarter for legalization definitely does show the state has changed since it embraced its new outlook on the plant, but unfortunately for its opponents, the change appears to be a good one. Property crimes in Denver alone fell 14.6 percent and violent crimes dropped by 2.4 percent. Add to this the $14 million in sales revenue the state took in on their first month alone, and it looks like the opponents of proposition 64, which legalized marijuana to all citizens, have a lot of crow to eat.

The peer-reviewed publication PLOS ONE‘s data mirrored that of Denver’s, stating the legalization of marijuana has shown no increase in crime and has, in fact, appeared to reduce some violent crime, including homicide. Still, some city officials remain unfazed by this new information, stating that one fiscal quarter isn’t enough time for the bad guys to move in and start taking over.

“We quite frankly don’t know,” stammered Henny Lasley, spokesperson for anti-pot group Smart Colorado, to Vox. “We’ve had three complete months of retail marijuana. It’s a pretty short window.”

However, a recent poll from Quinnipiac University shows that those big bad pot dealers aren’t going to make the mountains of cash everyone thinks they will. Only 10 percent of the 1,139 registered voters polled said they had tried marijuana recently. The number of daily smokers was even less. So if the residents aren’t smoking up all the millions of dollars of legal stash, who is?

Tourists.

According to Hopper.com, flight search data for Denver alone has risen 6.3 percent since December 1st and twelve of the top 50 origins for the city have seen search traffic rise at least 25 percent. It seems that the people of the neighboring 48 states want to get a mile higher than the residents do. So in a sense, the Colorado law enforcement is correct, marijuana legalization has brought in people from all over the country, and most likely all over the world. But instead of bringing doom and destruction, all it’s really delivered is some peace and love, man.

Follow Danny Harkins as he views the world going to pot as well: http://inquistr.wpengine.com/1206942/uruguay-aims-to-treat-prisoners-with-medical-marijuana/

Or watch a Santa Monica teacher thrash a student in class for handing out buds with William Brisby: http://inquistr.wpengine.com/1204245/science-teacher-and-student-fight-in-high-school-class-over-drugs/

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