Cannabis use decreases violence, traffic deaths, beer sales

This should be a no-brainer: states where cannabis is easily available can expect fewer instances of violent crimes.

Chelsi Moy tells readers of the Missoulian:

A report authored by a D. Mark Anderson, a Montana State University economics professor, and Daniel Rees, a professor at the University of Colorado Denver, discovered a 9 percent decrease in traffic fatalities in states that passed laws legalizing medical marijuana. The study points to marijuana as a substitute drug for alcohol. Researchers also aren't saying that smoking marijuana impairs drivers less than alcohol, but "it could be that," Anderson said. "We're saying our results would be consistent with that."

New York is a state that has seen dramatic decreases in crime where cannabis arrests are draining resources according to NPR:

We've reported that crime continues to fall in the United States. The FBI said it was down for the first six months of the year and the Justice Department said violent crime was down 12 percent in 2010. It's a 20-year trend. One that has continued, despite a recession when people expect crime to pick up.