Cannabis is Coming to Chico, is the Community Safe?
A watercolor made by Erin Holve
The city of Chico has approved an ordinance for cannabis dispensaries with a 5-2 vote. The two dissenting votes came from Sean Morgan and Kasey Reynolds.
Dozens of residents showed up to the Aug. 18 meeting to support and oppose dispensaries, 13 of which got the chance to speak to the council for three minutes.
“Because where you have drugs and where you have a cash business, you have crime,” said Nichole Nava, a vocal community member against this ordinance, “and you are making it difficult for our Chico Police Department already to do their jobs.”
She further stated that Vice Mayor Brown has “worked for this harder than the drug pushers in the tenderloin of San Francisco,” commenting that Brown “spoke for a whole bunch of college students who have their brains still forming.”
She spoke with passion and anger about the harms this ordinance would cause for Chico, but I wondered if she was right. Would allowing dispensaries to open up in Chico increase crime and cause harm to the community?
A recent Pew Research Center survey showed that the main reason people oppose the legalization of marijuana is that they feel it hurts society and is bad for individuals.
About 19% of those against legalization say marijuana is illegal and needs to be policed, 11% say it is a gateway to harder drugs and 8% say it is especially harmful to young people.
A study conducted by researchers at the University of Colorado, Denver found an association between cannabis dispensaries and increases in rates of crime shortly after Colorado began legal retail sales.
With the exception of murder, data showed that the presence of at least one medical marijuana dispensary was associated with a statistically significant increase in neighborhood crime and disorder, including robbery and aggravated assault.
However, researchers noted that the strongest associations between dispensaries and crime weakened significantly over time.
The study also observed that because it relied on official police data, it’s possible that police targeted neighborhoods with marijuana dispensaries. This would cause an overestimation between the dispensaries and crime rates.
Authors of the study concluded that, rather than fighting to oppose legalized marijuana, which has become a multibillion-dollar industry and is expected to create more than a quarter of a million jobs by 2020, it would be more helpful to the community at large to develop and support secure and legal ways for dispensaries to operate.
Furthermore, legalization brings some notable benefits. The state tax revenues get boosted, new jobs get created and law enforcement can focus their energy on more serious and heinous crimes.
During this tumultuous time we need these benefits against the pandemic that is still raging through American society, leaving economic devastation and political division in its wake.
Americans spent $12.4 billion on legal recreational and medical cannabis in 2019, according to ArcView Market Research and BDS Analytics, a number that is expected to climb to $16.3 billion this year, a 31% increase.
California alone has taken in about $1 billion during the first two years of legalizing cannabis.
Curaleaf Holdings Inc. Chairman Boris Jordan said federal legalization would increase jobs in the industry from about 250,000 today to 1 million overnight.
“Cannabis use already exists throughout California and definitely exists in Chico,” said Curtis Bartel, a supporter of the new ordinance. “Overall legalization pushes us toward providing safety for the consumer. That’s what rules and regulations and laws are supposed to do.”
After looking at all the data surrounding cannabis and dispensaries, I have to say the benefits seem to outweigh the concerns. This is coming from someone who used to be terrified of drugs as a kid.
The CDC states that cannabis is the most commonly used drug in America with 37.6 million users in the past year.
What’s important now is to take measures to regulate it and make it safe for the community at large. Take the money made from this new business and put it back into community growth projects. Lastly let’s throw away the old stigmas of cannabis that plenty of scientific data has disproven in today’s society.
Erin Holve can be reached at [email protected] or @ErinHolve on Twitter.
Stan // Sep 16, 2020 at 9:21 pm
being as the cumunity is not overly safe. It is
unlikely this will help.
Mark Christensen // Sep 16, 2020 at 7:17 pm
Laura Brockwell NAILED it. “All the red tape and bull@*#!, along with the Nosybodies and the overabundance of Betterthanthous with nothing to bitch about, purposely making waves in what amounts to a semi peaceful pond, should get their noses outta the air.”
spot on!
Tim // Sep 16, 2020 at 5:42 pm
Unfortunately, there are serious risks to marijuana usage that often seem to be ignored in the debate. Multiple psychologists have independently emphasized to us the impact that marijuana had on our amazing son in that it stimulated his psychosis which in turn led to multiple very-nearly fatal suicide attempts. A Google search of “marijuana psychosis” will get you to a wealth of scientific journals and other legitimate science regarding the connection. This is truly devastating and the prospect of someone (maybe your family member) being drawn into either stronger drugs or pushed toward serious psychosis is brutally sad and I believe that legitimization, legalization and easy access to “recreational drugs” will ultimately exacerbate the problem and the resulting suffering for individuals, their loved ones and our community. I truly wish it was harmless… but the fact is that it’s not.
Laura Brockwell // Sep 16, 2020 at 12:57 pm
I for one, believe that not only do the pros outweigh the cons, but in a community where it’s pretty much already legal, it all boils down to helping the people IN the community, help themselves. In numerous ways no less. It’s not just about getting high. The people who have a need for medical marijuana, are, for the most part, not criminals who would go rob and steal from someone, to get more of it. All the red tape and bull@*#!?, along with the Nosybodies and the overabundance of Betterthanthous with nothing to bitch about, purposely making waves in what amounts to a semi peaceful pond, should get their noses outta the air. If it rains, they will most surely drown. Maybe eat a brownie. Join the club and learn to live and let live. Or just shut up, and quit ruining it for everyone else.
Logan // Sep 16, 2020 at 8:24 am
It takes away most of the criminal element in my opinion. When it’s illegal…I’ve known people that got murdered for their crops. When it’s legal and people can just buy it the black market dries up and there is no far less motivation to steal/invade/support drug dealers.
As well, we are okay with alcohol. Bars have parking lots and DWI is infinitely more dangerous to society. No police officer has ever been called out for a domestic violence call because someone was too stoned. We should be more worried about alcohol.
I think we should legalize every drug. It allows for regulation and taxation. Imagine if the USA legalized cocaine? What would happen to the cartels? They would become pharmaceutical companies that had to adhere to strict regulations. The ones that toed the line would be rich. The former cartels that didn’t would fade away due to the competition. The more illegal a drug is the more people die selling and buying it.
Traci Barbieri // Sep 16, 2020 at 7:47 am
IT’S
ABOUT
TIME!!
👏👏👏
J—-G // Sep 15, 2020 at 7:50 pm
The massive eruption of legal marijuana dispensaries has shown that the creation of the new (legal) markets tends to take away the negative impact of illegal drug organizations. If you can get it legally, then there’s no reason to risk getting it illegally. Statistics in places like Denver have also shown that there is a massive decrease in severe cases of anxiety, depression, PTSD, overall suicide rates, and most importantly, a decrease in addiction to hard drugs such as heroine, meth, various prescription drugs, nicotine, and overall rates of alcoholism. (The latter cases being very common in Chico as well as contributing to our homeless population). Weed isn’t addictive. Weed when properly consumed is completely safe and non carcinogenic. But weed does stop brain growth which is an important factor to consider when thinking of the younger population. In reality, the number of students and children that already have access to such substances is already MASSIVE. You’d have to be a fool to believe your children were immune from (or even safe) from drugs and violence at Chico’s public schools.
The fact that this will positively impact our community is very important, but it is an issue dwindled by the local population being constantly swarmed by homeless loons that can barely walk in a straight line.
(^another issue that can be combated by the introduction of marijuana^)