
The Kids Aren't Alright
The Effects of Medical Marijuana Market Size on Adolescents
Published in: Journal of Health Economics, Volume 87 (January 2023). doi: 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2022.102700
Posted on RAND.org on December 09, 2022
We exploit shocks to US federal enforcement policy to assess how legal medical marijuana market size affects youth marijuana use and consequences for youth traffic-related fatalities. Using hand-collected data on state medical marijuana patient rates to develop a novel measure of market size, we find that legal market growth increases youth marijuana use. Likely mechanisms are lower prices and easier access. Youth die more frequently from alcohol-involved car accidents, suggesting complementarities for youths. The consequences of marijuana legalization for youth are not immediate, but depend on how supply-side regulations affect production and prices.
Research conducted by
This report is part of the RAND Corporation External publication series. Many RAND studies are published in peer-reviewed scholarly journals, as chapters in commercial books, or as documents published by other organizations.
The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.