Homelessness is a crisis across the nation, but one state is seeing homeless flock to it for a surprising reason.
Colorado Division of Criminal Justice has commissioned a survey that found that more than one-third of homeless jail inmates who have come to the state since 2012 have come there due to marijuana being legal.
The survey surveyed 507 mostly homeless inmates that were housed in seven city and county jails and found that most homeless inmates sampled, came to the state before legalization. Roughly 41% came to the state after 2012 when recreational marijuana was voted to be legal.
“That’s not insignificant,” remarked Stan Hilkey, the executive director of Colorado’s Department of Public Safety. He added, “We know that marijuana is one of the reasons that it’s drawn some of the people here since legalization. It’s not the top reason, but remains one of the reasons.”
Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper stated, “They did [the survey] on the cheap.”
The governor pointed out that only two homeless inmates who arrived after marijuana became legal had put marijuana as their only reason for coming. Other inmates were able to select multiple responses.
Hickenlooper explained, “That is a pretty small number. Marijuana, was that something that made them come here? Again, I don’t doubt that a third of them did.
Does that mean we’re attracting criminals? We’re attracting a lot of people, and when you attract a lot of people you get some homeless people.”
Mason Tvert, a pro-marijuana lobbyist asked, “What is the relevance? What if 80% of them said [they came] for the weather? Does that mean we have to try to address the messaging around the weather in Colorado to make sure that people don’t think it’s very nice here?”
