“We have taken on a mindset that marijuana is not really a big issue in our city,” Contee said. “I can tell you that marijuana undoubtedly is connected to violent crime in our city.”
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Washington, D.C’s police chief wants to tackle the escalating firearm assaults in the city, and he’s named a surprising factor that he believes is contributing to the bloodshed.
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In a press conference last week, D.C. Police Chief Robert Contee discussed the recent surge in gun violence. In a video posted to YouTube by Public News D.C., Contee named more obvious issues such as the COVID-19 pandemic, a lack of approved overtime for police officers, and the sheer number of guns in the area as elements that have contributed to the rash of recent shootings.
Less expectedly, however, was the chief’s assertion that cannabis is also a contributing factor to the hail of bullets flying around the city, where the number of assaults involving firearms has increased every year since 2018.
“We have taken on a mindset that marijuana is not really a big issue in our city,” Contee said. “I can tell you that marijuana undoubtedly is connected to violent crime in our city.”
He continued to explain that while the financial reward for illicit traffickers is high (despite the fact that D.C. legalized the possession of adult-use cannabis in 2014), while the potential consequences are minimal.
“That creates a very, very, very, very, very bad situation, because those individuals get robbed, those individuals get shot at, those individuals get involved in disputes all across our city,” he continued. “I’m seeing it happen more and more all across our city, in all different wards.”
Contee also noted that he has heard tell of illicit sellers measuring their cannabis on digital scales “to the T” to ensure they are carrying slightly less than would be necessary to face prosecution.
Fox News pundits chimed in, as they are wont to do, claiming that ”psychosis” cannabis consumption, paired with illicit retail, is the root cause of the violence. But a less Reefer Madness-esque take may be derived from the fact that while possession is legal in D.C., retail sales remain verboten for the time being, creating a thriving illicit market in which there are few repercussions for those who sell the drug — and, more importantly, those who rob them.
Between 2019 and 2020, homicides in D.C. increased by 20 per cent. So far, D.C. has recorded 108 homicides this year.
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