KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City, Missouri, Police Chief Rick Smith believes that the conversation regarding marijuana legalization has been largely one-sided.

Smith posted a blog post Wednesday after a KCMO City Council committee paused a proposal to decriminalize possession of up to 100 grams of marijuana earlier this week.

He cited a possible link between marijuana legalization and an increase in violent crime based on a Midwest High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas study, which determined that Colorado, Oregon and Washington saw increased murder rates after legalizing marijuana.

"There is nothing to prove the rise in violent crime was caused by legalized recreational marijuana in the states that have experienced it," Smith wrote. "But the correlation is undeniable."