Cannabis Market Legalization and Neighborhood Change

Thursday, January 22nd

12:00 p.m. to 1:15 p.m.

Highlander Union Building (HUB) 379

900 University Ave

Riverside, CA 92507

Seminar Abstract:

The legalization of cannabis has upended illicit drug markets and changed the policing of cannabis production and dealing. This study examines two cannabis legalization timelines in relation to how urban neighborhoods changed in terms of lowering arrests and the growing number of dispensaries. The comparison between Chicago and Toronto show that different forms of legality shape the size and stability of cannabis dispensary markets, generating new conditions under which aspects of these markets continue to operate outside of the law.

Speaker Bio:

Chris M. Smith is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto. She researches crime and inequality, criminal relationships, illicit markets, criminal organizations, and violence. Chris is the author of the book Syndicate Women: Gender and Networks in Chicago Organized Crime (University of California Press 2019).

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