CLEVELAND — Issue 2 on this year’s ballot allows Ohio Voters to decide whether or not to make recreational cannabis legal. A concern we’ve heard is that legal weed might bring more crime with it. Will it?
When Michigan legalized recreational use about five years ago, some parents were worried, like Stephany Podolan from Royal Oak, MI.
“I was troubled by it because I have a 19-year-old,” Podolan said.
She told us she has no issue with adults using legal weed, but underage consumption, which would still be a crime, plays on her mind. “I think it’s easier for (my son) to get than it was for us (when we were kids),” she said.
A MICHIGAN COMMUNITY'S EXPERIENCE
In Hazel Park, MI, police told us with legal recreational use, they have seen more kids with marijuana, and there’s been a huge increase in criminals breaking into homes.
“It’s tens of thousands of dollars in damage,” said Detective Xavier Piper. “Someone breaking through a front door, a picture window, destroying property in the house."
He said people are stealing money and valuables. Even the outside of homes has been an issue. “Backyards damaged because people are allowed to grow it in their backyards,” said Piper. “And it has to be behind secured fences, so you have people damaging property to get into the backyards.”
LOTS OF DIFFERENT EXPERIENCES, STUDIES
A report by the Journal of Criminal Justice shows in Oregon, after recreational legalization, there were “significant increases” in not only property crimes but also in burglaries and car thefts. However, while Michigan State Police did not want to go on camera with us, it is quoted as saying that “…an uptick in criminal behaviors…has not panned out…” that way. Pro-cannabis Michigan attorneys agree.
“You take what used to be a black market, and you turn it to a legal market, and you have, I think, a positive impact on opportunity for crime and reasons for crime,” said Brett Gelbord with Dykema’s Cannabis Industry Group.
“(The black market is) still going to do that with other controlled substances, but not with marijuana,” said Attorney Barton Morris with the Principal Cannabis Legal Group.
The Los Angeles Times reported the black market in California “flourished(ed) after legalization,” and organized crime ran “…massive unlicensed farms and storefront dispensaries in plain view, bringing crime and terrorizing nearby residents.”
However, a pro-cannabis Ohio organization sees legalization turning out differently here.
“It frees up law enforcement resources to investigate and prosecute more serious offenses because they don’t have to waste time on low-level marijuana offenses,” said Tom Haren, who is the spokesperson of the Ohio Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol.
“Legalizing marijuana isn’t a panacea to make all the drug problems go away,” said President of the Ohio Fraternal Order of Police Gary Wolske. He and his organization are against Issue 2. “When you make it recreational, you’re telling everybody it’s okay to do,” said Wolske. “Prior to that, it was just… it was illegal. So, you weren’t expecting everybody to be using marijuana.”
The University of Colorado Boulder did a study recently saying in Colorado where voters said OK to cannabis about 10 years ago, “DUIs and crime did not explode following legalization.”
A DIFFERENT MICHIGAN EXPERIENCE
In addition to national studies, when it comes to crime in Michigan, it seems to be a bit of a mixed bag of results. Some have not faired well. In Ferndale, it’s been a different experience.
“The first impacts of this weren’t about EMS runs. They weren’t about public safety runs,” said Ferndale City Manager Joseph Gacioch. “We didn’t see an uptick in criminal activity. We still haven’t.”
When it comes to violent crimes, the Cato Institute came out with a report in 2021 that said rates decreased in Maine and Nevada. In Alaska and Massachusetts, though, violent crimes increased. But, overall, in Washington, D.C. and the nine states that it studied, violent crime “neither soared nor plummeted” after legalization.
And on top of all that, our state has to be careful watching over regulations. It’s especially important considering Rick Johnson. Who’s that you ask? The very guy who had been in charge of Michigan’s cannabis licensing board who was caught taking big bribes in exchange for approving applications.
Haren talked to us about internal oversight in Ohio.
“I have an enormous amount of faith in the folks at the Department of Commerce to appropriately regulate and set up the framework,” he said.
There is a lot of information and data on both sides of this issue. Five years into legalization in Michigan, Podolan said these concerns still lurk in her head.
"As a parent, it’s problematic,” she told us. “But I think it’s good that (adults) have choices.”
