Journal
JOURNAL OF HEALTH ECONOMICS
Volume 58, Issue -, Pages 29-42Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2017.12.007
Keywords
Medical marijuana; Opioids; Pain killers; Dispensaries; Mortality; Substance abuse
Funding
- National Institute on Drug Abuse to the RAND Corporation [R01DA032693]
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Recent work finds that medical marijuana laws reduce the daily doses filled for opioid analgesics among Medicare Part-D and Medicaid enrollees, as well as population-wide opioid overdose deaths. We replicate the result for opioid overdose deaths and explore the potential mechanism. The key feature of a medical marijuana law that facilitates a reduction in overdose death rates is a relatively liberal allowance for dispensaries. As states have become more stringent in their regulation of dispensaries, the protective value generally has fallen. These findings suggest that broader access to medical marijuana facilitates substitution of marijuana for powerful and addictive opioids. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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