Pubdate: Wed, 12 Oct 2011
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2011 Los Angeles Times
Contact:  http://www.latimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Author: John Hoeffel
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Dispensaries

RAND REMOVES POT DISPENSARY REPORT

A Controversial Study That Linked Outlets to a Drop in Crime Rates 
Was Deleted From the Think Tank's Website After Sharp Criticism.

Rand Corp.'s website has removed a controversial study that suggested 
medical marijuana dispensaries may help reduce crime in their 
neighborhoods, a decision that came almost three weeks after enraged 
Los Angeles city attorneys slammed the report and demanded an 
immediate retraction.

Warren Robak, a spokesman for the Santa Monica-based think tank, said 
Tuesday, "As we've begun to take a look at the report, we decided 
it's best to remove it from circulation until that review is complete."

The study came under intense assault by the Los Angeles city 
attorney's office, which has argued in court that crime associated 
with dispensaries is a key reason the city needs to limit the number. 
The office called the report's conclusions "highly suspect and 
unreliable," saying that they were based on "faulty assumptions, 
conjecture, irrelevant data, untested measurements and incomplete results."

Jane Usher, a special assistant city attorney, said she was gratified 
by Rand's decision. "We spoke up to Rand, and Rand heard us out over 
a handful of communications," she said.

In a Sept. 21 letter to Mireille Jacobson, a health economist who was 
the lead researcher, Usher and Assistant City Atty. Asha Greenberg 
demanded that the study be repudiated. "Until you publicly retract 
your work, we expect the Rand publication to be referenced 
nationwide, at incalculable avoidable harm to public health and 
safety," they wrote.

Jacobson and the other researchers compared crime reports from the 10 
days before the city's medical marijuana ordinance took effect on 
June 7, 2010, with the 10 days after, when some of the more than 400 
illegal dispensaries shut down. They found a 59% increase in crime 
within 0.3 of a mile of a closed dispensary compared to an open one. 
But they acknowledged that those results were subject to a large 
margin of error and said that increase could range from as low as 
5.4% to as high as 114%.

The researchers hypothesized that dispensaries may increase security 
because they employ cameras and guards, generate late-night foot 
traffic, displace street sales and draw more police patrols.

Usher and Greenberg challenged the assumption that most dispensaries 
closed on that date and remained closed for at least 10 days, noting: 
"To our knowledge, no comprehensive effort was ever made by anyone, 
including Rand, to track and record the precise openings and closings."

They also questioned the study's time frame, writing, "We were also 
terribly troubled by your suggestion that a 10-day period of 
statistical review constitutes a relevant crime trend."

Usher and Greenberg also said the researchers failed to use 
"available crime statistics, which cover considerably more offenses 
than you charted." They noted that the researchers did not acquire 
data from the Los Angeles Police Department that they said could be 
charted by city block.

Robak said Jacobson was not available for comment. He said he was not 
sure when Rand would complete its internal review. "People are 
working on this expeditiously," he said.

He acknowledged that the city attorney's office was the most 
outspoken critic. "I'm unaware of anyone else who's been so pointed 
in their criticism," he said.

Rand has previously removed studies from its website while they were 
under review, Robak said, explaining: "It does not happen often, but 
there is precedent."

He informed the media of the decision and noted, "That is a part of 
the Rand ethic, if I may boast a bit."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom