The Local Effects of Medical Cannabis - Tufts...
1
N 0 0.4 0.8 0.2 Miles Buffer for Parks 100 ft. 200 ft. 400 ft. > 400 ft. Bus Stops Suitable Areas for Medical Cannabis Clubs Schools School 1,000 ft. Buffer Legend $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ 0 1.5 3 0.75 Miles N Legend $ Current Medical Cannabis Dispensaries Relative Change in Violent Crime Value 9- 8- 7- 6- 5- 4- 3- 2- 1- 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 The Local Effects of Medical Cannabis Disproving the Myth that Medicinal Cannabis Dispensaries Attract and Cause Violent Crime $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ 0 1.5 3 0.75 Miles $ Current Medical Cannabis Dispensaries Increase in Violent Crime No Change Decrease in Violent Crime N Legend Suitable Areas for Medical Cannabis Clubs Business Districts Parks N 0 0.4 0.8 0.2 Miles On Nov. 6, 2012 Massachusetts ap- proved Question 3, becoming the 18th state to legalize cannabis for medical use. Although the mea- sure passed with a significant ma- jority of 63%, multiple towns have already banned dispensaries from opening within their communities. Cities such as Wakefield and Read- ing instituted these bans, arguing that medical cannabis facilities are likely to draw crime. Fortunately, evidence from states with long- term medical cannabis industries can illustrate whether or not these claims are based in reality. The first state with medical canna- bis, California introduced the Com- passionate Use Act Prop. 215 in 1996. Since then, hundreds of can- nabis dispensaries have opened up across the state, mostly in the Los Angeles and San Jose areas. The purpose of this project is to as- sess the relationship between medical cannabis cooperatives in San Francis- co and their effect on violent crime near- by. Despite being a city of the state, San Francisco is home to relatively few can- nabis dispensaries, with only around 25 currently operating. This makes it easi- er to illustrate and analyze trends relat- ing to violent crime around the clubs. Viewing this data can assist the Massa- chusetts population in how it decides to regulate and facilitate the introduction of medical cannabis collectives. Hope- fully places like Wakefield and Reading will reevaluate their cannabis bans. METHODS After adding data of all crime report lo- cations from 2003 and 2011, I narrowed down the crime types to only represent assaults. I then created point densi- ty raster layers of the assault loca- tions, and I reclassified the distribu- tion of densities so that I would be able to subtract the densities of 2011 from 2003 on the same scale. This way, a location with a low density of assaults in 2011 subtracted from a higher density in 2003 would result in a high value in the final raster, a decrease in violent crime, and vice- versa. To achieve the simplified map of in- creases and decreases in violent crime, I created two boolean rasters. The val- ues/locations of increases in violent crime were converted into one boolean raster, represented in blue and the val- ues/locations of decreases in violent crime were converted into a boolean raster represented in orange. Like the first map, the uncolored values repre- sent no change in violent crime. After increases and decreases in assault densities were mapped, I added the locations of current can- nabis dispensaries in San Fran- cisco to complete the analysis. For the Somerville suitability map, I first narrowed down the zoning areas to only the busi- ness districts. Next, I mapped the locations of schools, parks, and bus stops in and around Somerville so that I could figure out where the commuity would be most likely to approve a dispensary. I then created layers of Euclidean distance for all of these features. To finish the analysis, I combined the analysis of bus stops and parks so that locations near bus stops would get better scores so that the dispensaries are more convient for bus-us- ers and locations closer to parks would get lower scores so that cannabis use was further from children playing. Additionally, all locations within 1,000 ft. of a school were deemed unsuitable. This combination of factors produced ratings of the best locations for dispen- saries and the worst, and I created a boolean raster to only highlight the best locations with the highest scores. This generated the final, suitable locations. CONCLUSION From the data and analysis on this proj- ect, it is safe to conclude that medical cannabis dispensaries do not cause or attract an increase in violent crime. Comparing the results of over twenty clubs in different parts of the city, rang- ing from some that opened up over ten years ago to others that have opened in the last couple years, it can also be inferred that violent crime does not sig- nificantly change despite how long the dispensary has been there. In fact, most collectives are located in places where violent crime decreased. However, it is difficult to assess whether this trend is statistically significant, be- cause of the various counterexamples located in no-change and increased vi- olent crime areas. For the suitability analysis of Somer- ville, there are multiple areas that would be fit for a medical cannabis dispensary. In fact, there are prime locations across the city, some in the central business district and others farther out. Suitability Analysis of Best Locations for Cannabis Dispensaries in Somerville Greater Bay Area, California Simplified Boolean Raster Results San Francisco Violent Crime Shifts 2003- 2011 and Dispensaries Eastern Massachusetts How the Suitable Areas were Evaluated Extreme Decrease in Assaults No Change Extreme Increase in Assaults Clearly, the evidence of the last fifteen years of medical cannabis in California should dismiss the concerns of Mas- sachusetts’ residents that dispensaries draw violent crime. That being said, this study did not evaluate the correlation between dispensaries and other types of crime. However, if Massachusetts’ towns are worried about businesses in their neighborhoods causing crime, it would be most beneficial to start with the places that do cause violent crime like liquor stores. Storefront of Divinity Tree Wellness Cooperative, another San Francisco dispensary recently closed Photo by John Schulze Outside a Medical Cannabis doctor’s office in Venice Beach, California - Photo by Phillip Cowell e Vapor Room was forced to switch to an delivery- only service aſter receiving a letter from U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag - Photo by Tony Fischer Cartography and Analysis by Max Cohen Projected Coordinate Systems San Francisco: NAD 1983 StatePlane California III Somerville: NAD 1983 Stateplane Massachusetts Mainland Data Sources: MASSGis San Francisco Dept. of Public Health data.sfgov.org Tufts GIS, Intro to GIS 12/19/12 OVERVIEW
Transcript of The Local Effects of Medical Cannabis - Tufts...
N
0 0.4 0.80.2 Miles
Buffer for Parks100 ft.
200 ft.
400 ft.
> 400 ft.
Bus Stops
Suitable Areas for Medical Cannabis Clubs
Schools
School 1,000 ft. Buffer
Legend
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$$ $
$$
$$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
0 1.5 30.75 Miles
N
Legend$Current Medical Cannabis Dispensaries
Relative Change in Violent CrimeValue9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1-0123456789
The Local Effects of Medical CannabisDisproving the Myth that Medicinal Cannabis Dispensaries Attract and Cause Violent Crime
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$$ $
$$
$$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
0 1.5 30.75 Miles
Legend$ Current Medical Cannabis Dispensaries
Increase in Violent Crime
No Change
Decrease in Violent Crime
N
LegendSuitable Areas for Medical Cannabis Clubs
Business Districts
Parks
N
0 0.4 0.80.2 Miles
On Nov. 6, 2012 Massachusetts ap-proved Question 3, becoming the 18th state to legalize cannabis for medical use. Although the mea-sure passed with a significant ma-jority of 63%, multiple towns have already banned dispensaries from opening within their communities. Cities such as Wakefield and Read-ing instituted these bans, arguing that medical cannabis facilities are likely to draw crime. Fortunately, evidence from states with long-term medical cannabis industries can illustrate whether or not these claims are based in reality.
The first state with medical canna-bis, California introduced the Com-passionate Use Act Prop. 215 in 1996. Since then, hundreds of can-nabis dispensaries have opened up across the state, mostly in the Los Angeles and San Jose areas.
The purpose of this project is to as-sess the relationship between medical cannabis cooperatives in San Francis-co and their effect on violent crime near-by. Despite being a city of the state, San Francisco is home to relatively few can-nabis dispensaries, with only around 25 currently operating. This makes it easi-er to illustrate and analyze trends relat-ing to violent crime around the clubs.
Viewing this data can assist the Massa-chusetts population in how it decides to regulate and facilitate the introduction of medical cannabis collectives. Hope-fully places like Wakefield and Reading will reevaluate their cannabis bans.
METHODSAfter adding data of all crime report lo-cations from 2003 and 2011, I narrowed down the crime types to only represent
assaults. I then created point densi-ty raster layers of the assault loca-tions, and I reclassified the distribu-tion of densities so that I would be able to subtract the densities of 2011 from 2003 on the same scale. This way, a location with a low density
of assaults in 2011 subtracted from a higher density in 2003 would result in a high value in the final raster, a decrease in violent crime, and vice-versa.
Copyright: ©2012 Esri, DeLorme, NAVTEQ
To achieve the simplified map of in-creases and decreases in violent crime, I created two boolean rasters. The val-ues/locations of increases in violent crime were converted into one boolean raster, represented in blue and the val-ues/locations of decreases in violent crime were converted into a boolean raster represented in orange. Like the first map, the uncolored values repre-sent no change in violent crime.
After increases and decreases in assault densities were mapped, I added the locations of current can-nabis dispensaries in San Fran-cisco to complete the analysis.
For the Somerville suitability map, I first narrowed down the zoning areas to only the busi-ness districts. Next, I mapped the locations of schools,
parks, and bus stops in and around Somerville so
that I could figure out where the commuity would be most likely to approve a dispensary. I then created layers of Euclidean distance for all of these features. To finish the analysis,
I combined the analysis of bus stops and parks so that locations near bus stops would get better scores so that the dispensaries are more convient for bus-us-ers and locations closer to parks would get lower scores so that cannabis use was further from children playing. Additionally, all locations within 1,000 ft. of a school were deemed unsuitable. This combination of factors produced ratings of the best locations for dispen-
saries and the worst, and I created a boolean raster to only highlight the best locations with the highest scores. This generated the final, suitable locations.
CONCLUSIONFrom the data and analysis on this proj-ect, it is safe to conclude that medical cannabis dispensaries do not cause or attract an increase in violent crime. Comparing the results of over twenty clubs in different parts of the city, rang-ing from some that opened up over ten years ago to others that have opened in the last couple years, it can also be inferred that violent crime does not sig-nificantly change despite how long the
Copyright: ©2012 Esri, DeLorme, NAVTEQ
N 0 10 20 30 405Miles
dispensary has been there.
In fact, most collectives are located in places where violent crime decreased. However, it is difficult to assess whether this trend is statistically significant, be-cause of the various counterexamples located in no-change and increased vi-olent crime areas.
For the suitability analysis of Somer-ville, there are multiple areas that would be fit for a medical cannabis dispensary. In fact, there are prime locations across the city, some in the central business district and others farther out.
Suitability Analysis of Best Locations for Cannabis Dispensaries in Somerville
Greater Bay Area, California
Simplified Boolean Raster Results
San Francisco Violent Crime Shifts 2003-2011 and Dispensaries
Eastern Massachusetts
How the Suitable Areas were Evaluated
Extreme Decrease
in Assaults
No Change
Extreme Increase in Assaults
Clearly, the evidence of the last fifteen years of medical cannabis in California should dismiss the concerns of Mas-sachusetts’ residents that dispensaries draw violent crime. That being said, this study did not evaluate the correlation between dispensaries and other types of crime. However, if Massachusetts’ towns are worried about businesses in their neighborhoods causing crime, it would be most beneficial to start with the places that do cause violent crime like liquor stores.
Storefront of Divinity Tree Wellness Cooperative, another San Francisco dispensary recently closed
Photo by John Schulze
Outside a Medical Cannabis doctor’s office in Venice Beach, California - Photo by Phillip Cowell
The Vapor Room was forced to switch to an delivery-only service after receiving a letter from U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag - Photo by Tony Fischer
Cartography and Analysis by Max Cohen
Projected Coordinate SystemsSan Francisco: NAD 1983 StatePlane California IIISomerville: NAD 1983 Stateplane Massachusetts Mainland
Data Sources:MASSGisSan Francisco Dept. of Public Healthdata.sfgov.org
Tufts GIS, Intro to GIS12/19/12
OVERVIEW
