Is Recreational Marijuana a Gateway to Harder Drug Use and Crime?

Trends in college students’ alcohol, nicotine, prescription opioid and other drug use after recreational marijuana legalization: 2008–2018

Addictive Behaviors ◽

10.1016/j.addbeh.2019.106212 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 102 ◽

pp. 106212 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Zoe M. Alley ◽

David C.R. Kerr ◽

Harold Bae

Keyword(s):

College Students ◽

Drug Use ◽

Prescription Opioid ◽

Marijuana Legalization ◽

Recreational Marijuana

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Comparative Effects of Recreational and Medical Marijuana Laws On Drug Use Among Adults and Adolescents

10.31235/osf.io/drx9f ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Alex Hollingsworth ◽

Coady Wing ◽

Ashley Bradford

Keyword(s):

Drug Use ◽

Medical Marijuana ◽

Marijuana Use ◽

Negligible Effect ◽

Drug Consumption ◽

Difference In Difference ◽

Recreational Marijuana ◽

Medical Marijuana Laws ◽

Recreational Use

Thirty-four states have adopted medical marijuana laws and ten states have adopted recreational marijuana laws. There is little research comparing how these two types of laws affect drug consumption of the general US population. Using a difference in difference strategy, we find that recreational laws increase past-year marijuana use by 25% among adults and by 10% among adolescents. In contrast, medical laws increase adult use by only 5% and have a negligible effect on adolescent use. We also find that recreational marijuana dispensaries are an important driver of the increase in marijuana use for adults 26 and over. Taken together, our results suggest that medical laws are not de facto recreational laws in that they succeed in mitigating recreational use, that recreational laws have broad effects on overall levels of marijuana use, and that underage marijuana use may be an important problem with existing implementations of recreational marijuana laws.

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Is Recreational Marijuana a Gateway to Harder Drug Use and Crime?

10.3386/w29038 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Joseph Sabia ◽

Dhaval Dave ◽

Fawaz Alotaibi ◽

Daniel Rees

Keyword(s):

Drug Use ◽

Recreational Marijuana

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The Effect of Marijuana Legalization on the Trajectories of Hard Drug–Related Hospitalizations: A Growth Curve Analysis of the County-Level State Inpatient Database in Washington, 2009–2015

Journal of Drug Issues ◽

10.1177/0022042620912695 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 50 (3) ◽

pp. 273-285

Author(s):

Seong-min Park ◽

Jay J. Shen ◽

Ji Won Yoo ◽

Shon M. Reed

Keyword(s):

Drug Use ◽

Growth Curve ◽

The United States ◽

County Level ◽

Growth Curve Analysis ◽

Hard Drug ◽

Marijuana Legalization ◽

Before And After ◽

Recreational Marijuana ◽

Inpatient Database

Two antithetical arguments have raised controversies over the effect of recreational marijuana legalization on hard drug use. The gateway perspective posits that marijuana use diffuses hard drug use; however, recent studies argue that marijuana legalization displaces hard drug use. This study examines these conflicting arguments by investigating temporal patterns of hard drug–related hospitalizations (HDHs) before and after marijuana legalization. Using county-level State Inpatient Database data from Washington State for the years 2009–2015, along with other federal data sources, this study assesses temporal changes in HDH using growth curve modeling. Initial findings show support for the displacement perspective, though controlling for other county-level factors (education and economic change) indicates that the legalization of recreational marijuana may be a gateway toward harder drugs. Considering the economic situation of the United States during the study period, this study concludes that marijuana legalization functioned as a gateway toward increased hard drug use.

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