Action News Jax Investigates: Crime and medical marijuana dispensaries in Jacksonville

After Florida legalized medical marijuana, dispensaries have popped up all over the state.

Action News Jax has been reporting on local government's efforts to regulate them, or even keep them out entirely.

One argument against the dispensaries is they may hurt property values and affect neighborhood safety.

To determine if this is true, Action News Jax investigated police service calls near Jacksonville's two dispensaries -- Trulieve and Knox.

Police were called to Trulieve on Beach Boulevard twice since it opened in July --once for a robbery alarm; the second call was canceled.

There have been eight calls to t he Knox Dispensary address on San Jose Boulevard, we found 8 calls since it opened in August. However, Knox isn’t the only business listed for this address.

"Since our opening in August, Knox Medical is only aware of one incidence of vandalism on Jan. 3rd and one false alarm registered on Jan. 15th. The three previous incidents from 2017 did not involve our dispensary according to our security logs," a spokesperson for Knox said.

According to a Jan. 3 police report  merchandise was stolen and the business sustained hundreds of dollars of damage.

Meanwhile a Trulieve spokesperson said "Trulieve takes a proactive approach to safety.  Our stores are covered completely by live monitored security cameras and are fully alarmed.  We also have an armed guard on site.  Our employees are trained on important protocols and processes to ensure our stores are safe and comfortable for patients."

Cox Media Group