Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

Dear Chief Smith,

I saw you had some words to say about legalizing Mary Jane in our fair city. For those of you reading who don’t know what I’m talking about, check out the hearing and the Chief’s blog post on the issue. Anyways, Chief, I’m here to tell you: You are wrong. Your continued negative outlook on marijuana will only lead to more crime, perpetuating the War on Drugs’ damaging cycle. I’m going to tell you a secret, one that is so secret you can only find out if you go to Google.com and look: Poverty is more directly correlated to violent crime than marijuana legalization.

Let’s discuss (and by discuss I mean, sit and listen):

It is a very common myth that marijuana legalization motivates murders and other violent crime. According to internet fact-checker, Snopes, that claim is false.

The article reports that marijuana legalization does not have a strong enough correlation to increased violent crime to support the claim that marijuana legalization causes violent crime.

You mention in your blog post that Colorado experienced higher crime rates after marijuana legalization. Those numbers did rise but according to Snopes:

While the statistics are not in dispute, the numbers offer no avenue to test causation — they are merely observations of year-to-year changes in crime rates. In the latest edition of this report, the task force makes this point explicitly (and in all caps) in a disclaimer: NOTE: SOME OF THE DATA REPORTED IN THIS SECTION IS BECAUSE THERE HAVE BEEN SO MANY INQUIRIES ON THE PARTICULAR SUBJECT, SUCH AS CRIME AND SUICIDES. THIS IS NOT TO INFER THAT THE DATA IS DUE TO THE LEGALIZATION OF MARIJUANA.

So what you’re saying is the equivalent to: “A black cat crossed my path yesterday and now my tire is flat. Therefore, the cat caused my tire to go flat and I need to kill it to fix my tire.” No one disputes that the cat walked past you, but the relationship between the cat and the tire is non-existent.

Further:

The most thorough investigation of that relationship is a 26 March 2014 study published in the journal PLOS One. That study investigated changes to crime rates in states before and after policies legalizing medical marijuana, concluding: Results did not indicate a crime exacerbating effect of MML on any of the Part I offenses. Alternatively, state MML may be correlated with a reduction in homicide and assault rates, net of other covariates. […] These findings run counter to arguments suggesting the legalization of marijuana for medical purposes poses a danger to public health in terms of exposure to violent crime and property crimes. Interestingly, robbery and burglary rates were unaffected by medicinal marijuana legislation, which runs counter to the claim that dispensaries and grow houses lead to an increase in victimization due to the opportunity structures linked to the amount of drugs and cash that are present.

This isn’t to say legal marijuana will cause crime to go down only that statistically, it has no correlation to increased crime rates.

I wanted to point out something you said that jumped out at me as…lacking critical thought.

“Most of these marijuana-related shootings start as robberies of marijuana or the money connected to it.”

I don’t think this sentence means what you think it means. I think you’re trying to say marijuana caused shootings because the value of marijuana motivated the attacks. But what this is actually saying is: People are in such desperate need of money and have no viable legal way to obtain it, so they turn to drug-related crime due to increased market value criminalization creates. Congratulations, you played yourself.

You also said:

“Migrant workers that travel to the region to work in both legal and illegal growing operations have experienced rape, human trafficking, and other forms of abuse by marijuana growers.”

Our nation’s horrible track record of enforcing worker and migrant rights aside, the fact that marijuana is illegal on the federal level means that marijuana producers operate underground. That means they hold unchecked power in the industry. They can violate migrants, traffick them, and abuse them because where are these migrants going to go for help? The police? Due to systemic obstacles America puts in place, these people arrive fleeing extreme poverty and violence only to be forced back into poverty and violence under the threat of deportation. Why would they report their abusers if they risk being deported for engaging in illegal activity? Legalization means workers can seek help and protection. Legalization means regulation. Regulation means we can cut down on human rights violations at the hands of illegal growers.

Snopes isn’t the only one stating this information. According to a peer-reviewed University of Texas study, they also found that there is no correlation between crime and legal marijuana and that it may, in fact, have a hand in decreasing the number of homicides in states where it is legal.

Now that we’ve established that marijuana legalization does not have a correlation, not even a flicker of one, to increased violent crime, let’s look at the real culprit of violent crime: Poverty.

Kansas City is no stranger to poverty. The historic Troost divide is a clear example. Poverty and its effects on society are well documented. Poverty — not having enough money to pay for basic necessities — causes extreme stress and motivates people to engage in activity that will satisfy those needs as soon as possible.

Let’s say you have a provider who is living in poverty. Their car breaks down. Repairs cost about two-months pay. If they don’t get their car fixed, they can’t work but, if they can’t get to work they can’t get the money they need to get their car fixed. On top of that, they have to pay for shelter, food, and heat. This affects their sense of stability for themselves and their dependents which in turn puts a strain on their relationships with their partners, dependents, and friends. Lack of basic needs, instability, weakening relationships can all lead to low self-esteem and tainted community image because we shame the poor and the poor feel guilty for being poor. (I know because I’m poor.) All of the needs I listed are on the base of the Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs pyramid.

People literally cannot grow as people if they do not have these needs met. And people want to grow and live. So people commit crimes. Our hypothetical person (although this situation is all too real) now has to get their car fixed and fast. They could get a payday loan, which would only harm them in the long run or they can take a chance and sell marijuana. None of these are great choices. Those that sell marijuana want the big payout that comes with selling. Why not get an actual job with a paid hourly? Because the minimum wage is $8.60, which, admittedly, is more than the federal. However, the calculated living wage is $11.25/hr and that is working 40+ hours week. Just for basic needs. Not to mention only getting paid every two weeks. Our citizen needs their car fixed NOW and how can they get to this $8.60/hr job in the first place? How are they going to feed their dependents in the meantime? What about medication? What about sleep? They’re in a bind. They need money to live. So they sell drugs and crime rates increase.

Poverty creates desperate people. Desperate people do desperate things. And this isn’t just in Kansas City. It is a universal human phenomenon.

In 2005, the UN came to the conclusion that crime is “both the cause and consequence of poverty” on a global scale. I’d like to point out that marijuana was the least of their global concerns; mostly amphetamines were cause for great concern in the international community. One of the few delegates that focused on poverty in their statements, Princess Bajrakitiyabha Mahidol of Thailand said that nations should be looking at poverty and focus on cooperation in order to curb criminal activity. Unfortunately, most of the delegates at the time seemed to focus on law enforcement instead of combating poverty despite Executive Director Costa’s warning:

“…some people argued that crime was the cause of poverty, and that the solution was therefore law enforcement. Others claimed that poverty rendered people vulnerable to crime, and that underdevelopment problems should be tackled first, and crime afterwards. He believed that both of those arguments were right and wrong at the same time, because each one only told half of the story. Poverty and crime must be addressed, not separately, but together and at the same time.”

So, Chief, I’m not saying your job isn’t necessary. Law enforcement is needed but if poverty is not tackled with as much, if not more, vigor as your action-packed drug busts where you arrest some scumbag for less than 10 grams of weed, your worries about violent crime and murder will never cease.

Looking at Kansas City’s poverty and crime stats, we can see that Kansas City’s poverty rate is 17.3 percent. Missouri’s rate is 13.4 percent. The US, 11.8 percent. Kansas City’s rate is higher than both. Lower-income households are more likely to experience higher crime rates across all races due to the reasons discussed above. But in Kansas City, the low-income population is predominately African-American. This is also the community with the highest reported crime rate in the city. And as we all know, KCPD has not had the best track record with fairly policing its African-American community:

You’re probably thinking: “Oh she just wants to make this a race thing!” And I assure you I wish I didn’t have to write about racism, but this is America.

People in poverty are more prone to drug use as a method of self-medication. When you can’t afford therapy or prescription drugs sometimes that’s all you have. People drink alcohol for the same reason (and it’s still legal). Poor Black and White folks have the same rate of drug use. In Kansas City’s specific case, you have more poor black people than poor white people. Which means, keeping marijuana illegal means policing poor communities of color over minor drug possessions charges. These charges ONLY AID IN THE CONTINUED POVERTY OF THE CONVICTED. It makes it harder for them to find jobs, housing, benefits, and can strip them of their right to vote which takes away their ability to invoke change that would benefit them. Your continued desire to keep marijuana illegal under the guise of concern for the poor black community is laughable. If you actually cared about stopping marijuana money related murders, you would put increased attention on poverty prevention and community relations between police and the black community. And yes, you would also be in favor of legalizing marijuana. Not just because all the reasons you don’t support legalization are false right-wing anti-marijuana propaganda, but because it may be better for our city in the long run. I am not making claims legalizing it will make Kansas City better. I’m saying that in our country’s early experience with legalization there is little evidence to go by and therefore we need more time to see its effects on society. HOWEVER, from the little evidence we do have, the correlation between legalization and reduced crime is stronger than legalization and higher crime rates (not to mention the additional benefits of legalization). Legalization is not an end-all, in addition to legalization there has to be: efforts to combat poverty and mass release of all non-violent marijuana drug offenders and expunging of their records relevant thereof. I’m trying to warn you that you are going down a path of further violence and pain if you continue to focus solely on law enforcement. If you continue your war on drugs without any thought in combating the root causes, marijuana money related murders will continue to happen. Stop blaming the cat and just fix the damn tire.