Study finds less crime near closed pot dispensaries

Crime actually increased near Los Angeles medical marijuana dispensaries that had been required to close last year, a study found.

Researchers at the Rand Corp. think tank compared the 10 days before the city's medical marijuana ordinance took effect June 7, 2010, with the 10 days after, when many of the more than 400 illegal dispensaries were shut down, if only briefly.

The study found a 59% increase in crime within three-tenths of a mile of a closed dispensary compared with an open one and a 24% increase within six-tenths of a mile.

The city attorney's office, which has argued in court proceedings that the number of dispensaries needs to be reduced to deal with "well-documented crime," called the report's conclusions "highly suspect and unreliable" and     based on "faulty assumptions, conjecture, irrelevant data, untested measurements and incomplete results."