BALTIMORE — Whenever there's a debate surrounding the legalization of marijuana, one of the biggest arguments - both for and against it - is that it will impact crime rates either for better or for worse. Advocates for legal pot say it helps free up police resources, limits crimes related to the illegal drug market, and reduces alcohol use which is more heavily linked to violence.
But studies, mostly focused on early adopters like Oregon or Colorado, show mixed results. Some found a spike in crime, others found a drop in crime, and others found no significant difference either way.
On the ground here in Baltimore, Police Commissioner Richard Worley says:
"I don't think it's really had an effect on violence because almost every day that we talk about incidents, it's still over marijuana sales," Worley told WMAR-2 News' Elizabeth Worthington.
Maryland legalized weed in July of 2023. In both 2023 and 2024, Baltimore saw a 20% and 23% drop in homicides, respectively, as well as a 7% and 34% drop in non-fatal shootings, respectively.
But marijuana is still at the center of some of those shootings, Worley says.
"We had a shooting last week; the individual had three or four pounds of marijuana in his car; it was probably a meet-up went wrong. Illegal sales and distribution of marijuana is still a problem."
"If you are serious about legalizing cannabis or any other drug in a way that's gonna have a reduction in crime, you really have to make sure that those that were selling drugs in the illicit market have an opportunity to enter the legal market. If they can't make money, they're just gonna continue to do what they know how to do," Veronica Wright, founder of the Maryland-based National Coalition for Drug Legalization, said.
"It’s hard to get a license," she added. "It’s expensive. They’re trying to make sure that they’re fair in the process but they only give out so many licenses for dispensaries, so many licenses for growers, so many licenses for manufacturers. So a lot of people get shut out."
Wright's organization recently did a study with help from public health researchers at Johns Hopkins. Examining data from 2012 to 2019, they found that areas where drug enforcement was highly concentrated later saw higher rates of violent crime.
But she says legalizing only marijuana won't do enough to lower crime; sellers in the illicit market will just move on to other drugs.
"You really have to look at how you're going to legalize and regulate the other drugs if you want to see a significant reduction in crime and overdoes. People die of overdoses because they don't know what's in their drugs," Wright told WMAR-2 News.
One thing most researchers will agree on - we need more data before we can draw any conclusions about the impact legalizing marijuana has had on crime in Baltimore.
