Despite what the Big Pot lobbyists claim, the evidence is starting to mount that Colorado's experiment with legalized marijuana has led to increased crime in the state.

According to the latest 2014 Crime in Colorado report by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, the crime rate – based on arrests statistics – increased 9 percent from 2013 to 2014.  But that is only part of the story.

Looking back on the crime rate data over the preceding decade, the state's crime rate was rapidly declining (by 32 percent overall) from 2004 through 2012.  Since 2012, the crime rate has increased more than 21 percent.

What happened after 2012?  On May 8, 2013, the Colorado legislature passed bills regulating the manufacture, sale, distribution, and use of recreational marijuana.  In late May 2013, the governor signed the bills into law.  On January 1, 2014, the first stores in the state to sell pot for recreational use opened.

And during these past two years as Colorado moved towards legalized marijuana, the statewide crime rate reversed a nearly decade-long trend downward – and instead exploded upward.