Estimating the effects of legalizing recreational cannabis on newly incident cannabis use

Liberalized state-level recreational cannabis policies in the United States (US) fostered important policy evaluations with a focus on epidemiological parameters such as proportions [e.g., active cannabis use prevalence; cannabis use disorder (CUD) prevalence]. This cannabis policy evaluation projec...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2022-07, Vol.17 (7), p.e0271720-e0271720
Main Authors: Montgomery, Barrett Wallace, Roberts, Meaghan H, Margerison, Claire E, Anthony, James C
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adults
Age
Bills, Legislative
Cannabis
Complications and side effects
Drug use
Epidemiology
Estimates
Evaluation
Intervention
Liberalization
Marijuana
Medicine and Health Sciences
Modelling
Older people
Parameter estimation
Patient outcomes
People and Places
Policy research
Polls & surveys
Population
Population studies
Public health
Recreational use
Regression models
Science Policy
Social Sciences
Statistical analysis
Trends
Young adults
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Summary:Liberalized state-level recreational cannabis policies in the United States (US) fostered important policy evaluations with a focus on epidemiological parameters such as proportions [e.g., active cannabis use prevalence; cannabis use disorder (CUD) prevalence]. This cannabis policy evaluation project adds novel evidence on a neglected parameter–namely, estimated occurrence of newly incident cannabis use for underage (21 years). We offer a tentative conclusion of public health importance: Legalized cannabis retail sales might be followed by the increased occurrence of cannabis onsets for older adults, but not for underage persons who cannot buy cannabis products in a retail outlet. Cannabis policy research does not yet qualify as a mature science. We argue that modeling newly incident cannabis use might be more informative than the modeling of prevalences when evaluating policy effects and provide evidence of the advantages of the event study model over regression methods that seek to adjust for confounding factors.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0271720