"...When making his case against the measure, Sen. William Sharer, a Republican from Farmington, pointed to Denver, where he said crime has increased since retail marijuana stores opened in the city in 2014.
Marijuana policy experts and Colorado officials urge caution when trying to grade legalization's impacts — which are the subject of debate all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court, where this week justices are scheduled to discuss a lawsuit over pot filed against Colorado by two neighboring states. But there is one thing that legalization supporters, opponents and neutrals within Colorado agree on: It's unlikely marijuana has much to do with Denver's recent uptick in crime, as Sharer suggested it did."Crime is up," said Denver police spokesman Sonny Jackson, " but I don't know if you can relate it to marijuana."
Since 2012, the year when Colorado voters passed recreational marijuana legalization, the number of crimes in Denver has grown by about 44 percent, according to annual figures the city reported to the National Incident Based Reporting System..."
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