Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Publication

Evaluating Medical Marijuana Dispensary Policies: Spatial Methods for the Study of Environmentally-Based Interventions

Freisthler, Bridget
Kepple, Nancy J.
Sims, Revel
Citations
Altmetric:
Abstract
In 1996, California was the first state to pass a Compassionate Use Act allowing for the legal use of marijuana for medical purposes. Here we review several current policy and land use environmental interventions designed to limit problems related to the influx of medical marijuana dispensaries across California cities. Then we discuss the special challenges, solutions, and techniques used for studying the effects of these place-based policies. Finally, we present some of the advanced spatial analytic techniques that can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of environmental interventions, such as those related to reducing problems associated with the proliferation of medical marijuana dispensaries. Further, using data from a premise survey of all the dispensaries in Sacramento, this study will examine what characteristics and practices of these dispensaries are related to crime within varying distances from the dispensaries (e.g., 100, 250, 500, and 1000 feet). We find that some security measures, such as security cameras and having a door man outside, implemented by medical marijuana dispensary owners might be effective at reducing crime within the immediate vicinity of the dispensaries.
Description
This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Freisthler, B., Kepple, N.J., Simms, R., & Martin, S. (2013). Evaluating Medical Marijuana Dispensary Policies: Spatial Methods for the Study of Environmentally-Based Interventions. American Journal of Community Psychology, 51(1-2), 278-288. doi:10.1007/s10464-012-9542-6, which has been published in final form at http://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-012-9542-6. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.
Date
2013-03
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Wiley
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Keywords
Environmental interventions, Marijuana dispensaries, Medical marijuana, Bayesian space-time models
Citation
Freisthler, B., Kepple, N.J., Simms, R., & Martin, S. (2013). Evaluating Medical Marijuana Dispensary Policies: Spatial Methods for the Study of Environmentally-Based Interventions. American Journal of Community Psychology, 51(1-2), 278-288. doi:10.1007/s10464-012-9542-6
Embedded videos