Jul 18, 2017
USC Marijuana Dispensary Study Finds Closures Cause Crime Spike
USC Marshall School of Business Professor Tom Y. Chang and Paul Merage School of Business Professor Mireille Jacobson recently co-authored a study in the Journal of Urban Economics that examined how closing marijuana dispensaries affects crime in surrounding areas. The study specifically examined the aftermath of a period in 2010 during which hundreds of dispensaries were shut down. The crime rates around the closed dispensaries increased dramatically. According to Chang, “When marijuana dispensaries were shut down, we found the opposite of what we were expecting … Crime actually increased in the areas that closed relative to the ones allowed to stay open.” Continue reading…
