A budtender displays cannabis at the Higher Path medical marijuana dispensary (Photo credit should read ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images)

Anti-weed activists have always maintained drugs are linked to psychosis, violence, and robberies committed by slavering, helpless addicts.

Package of deadly poison 'mailed to Donald Trump and blocked by police'

But in American states where weed has been legalised, it seems the reverse is true – with violent crime dropping sharply, a new study found.

The study, Is Legal Pot Crippling Mexican Drug Trafficking Organizations?, found that violent crime has dropped by 13% in states with medical marijuana on the Mexican border.

Seven violent drug cartels have – until now – largely controlled the trade in marijuana, which is the most profitable drug smuggled into America, the Guardian reports.


But now, local farmers are producing weed in America itself – meaning that the cartels have less business, and less reason to commit violence.



Study author Evelina Gavrilova said, ‘These laws allow local farmers to grow marijuana that can then be sold to dispensaries where it is sold legally.

‘These growers are in direct competition with Mexican drug cartels that are smuggling the marijuana into the US. As a result, the cartels get much less business.’

The researchers analysed FBI reports, and found that robbery fell by 19% in states with medical marijuana, murder fell by 10%, and murders related to the drug trade dropped 41%.

Gavrilova said, ‘When the effect on crime is so significant, it’s obviously better to regulate marijuana and allow people to pay taxes on it rather than make it illegal.

‘For me it’s a no brainer that it should be legal and should be regulated, and the proceeds go to the Treasury.’