Revenues Up, Crime Down in Colorado Since Legalization

In the same month that the DEA continues doubling (perhaps even tripling) down on their long-held propaganda statements, we get some real, data-driven evidence out of Colorado that tells a different story.

I recently wrote about how the DEA’s head honchos are making fear-generating statements at a Senate Judiciary Hearing. The gist is that they claimed that wherever marijuana legalization has been tried in the past, it has horribly failed and that their worst fears about legalization are being confirmed. In typical fashion, the DEA never really expounds on what those fears might be or backs up a clearly asinine claim of historic legalization failure (I can’t think of one case where pot legalization was honestly tried and failed).

Colorado and Washington have legalized recreational pot use, but Colorado is seen as the microcosm of how legalization plays out simply because they got their act together faster than Washington and began retail sales in January.

I won’t go too far into datageek land (though I find it fascinating), but the main point with which to walk away is that tax revenue from weed continues to climb (14 million/month in January and Feb, 19 million in March) and crime is steadily falling across the board, down more than 5% when compared to last year.

Many naysayers are claiming that crime, particularly violence and robberies, have increased directly as a result of cannabis legalization. Well, if that’s true, then Colorado must have some glaring failings in their crime reporting stats. The data simply does not back up the fear-mongering.

This seems to verify what nearly every stoner in history has known: legal weed makes for a better society. Peaceful people commit less crime.

To toss the egg directly at the face of the anti-pot crowd, I put forth that Colorado is a great example of what national legalization could look like. More tax dollars, less crime and reductions in tobacco and alcohol usage are all linked to legal weed (perhaps not as the sole factor, but the prohibitionists can’t cherry pick their data points and leave out the rest). And those things all lead to a better world.

I’m just quietly awaiting the next hastily-constructed bullshit hurdle they can erect. I have a big, stanky, data-laden cannabis wrecking ball (Miley Cyrus-free, I promise) ready to decimate their nonsense.