IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i10p5174-d553915.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Cannabis Policy Changes and Adolescent Cannabis Use: Evidence from Europe

Author

Listed:
  • Elisa Benedetti

    (Italian National Research Council, Institute of Clinical Physiology (CNR-IFC), via Moruzzi, 1, 56124 Pisa, Italy)

  • Giuliano Resce

    (Centro Studi SOSE S.p.A. (Ministry of Economy and Finance), via Mentore Maggini, 48C, 00143 Rome, Italy)

  • Paolo Brunori

    (Department of Economics and Management, University of Florence, via delle Pandette, 32, 50127 Florence, Italy)

  • Sabrina Molinaro

    (Italian National Research Council, Institute of Clinical Physiology (CNR-IFC), via Moruzzi, 1, 56124 Pisa, Italy)

Abstract

Cannabis accounts for the largest share of the illicit drug market, with a high prevalence of use even among adolescents. To tackle this longstanding problem, many kinds of reforms to national cannabis control policies have been implemented in Europe, but their effectiveness is still unclear. This paper analyses the association between selected categories of cannabis policy reforms and changes in perceived cannabis availability and patterns of use among adolescents. Data from 20 European countries across 15 years were drawn from a novel database of the European school Survey Project on Alcohol and other Drugs (ESPAD). Our analysis is based on a Difference-in-Differences design, which application is allowed by the fact that only thirteen out of the twenty countries included implemented policy changes. The results suggest that selected categories of reforms influence the availability and prevalence of cannabis use. In particular, some forms of restrictive intervention reduce the general prevalence of use and more liberal reforms seem linked to an increase in the share of students initiating use of cannabis. We find no evidence of an effect of policy changes on the share of frequent users, which are presumably those more likely to develop use-related health consequences.

Suggested Citation

  • Elisa Benedetti & Giuliano Resce & Paolo Brunori & Sabrina Molinaro, 2021. "Cannabis Policy Changes and Adolescent Cannabis Use: Evidence from Europe," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(10), pages 1-16, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:10:p:5174-:d:553915
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/10/5174/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/10/5174/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Williams, Jenny & Bretteville-Jensen, Anne Line, 2014. "Does liberalizing cannabis laws increase cannabis use?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 20-32.
    2. Scott Cunningham & Keith Finlay, 2016. "Identifying Demand Responses to Illegal Drug Supply Interdictions," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(10), pages 1268-1290, October.
    3. Gilberto Gerra & Elisa Benedetti & Giuliano Resce & Roberta Potente & Arianna Cutilli & Sabrina Molinaro, 2020. "Socioeconomic Status, Parental Education, School Connectedness and Individual Socio-Cultural Resources in Vulnerability for Drug Use among Students," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(4), pages 1-17, February.
    4. van Ours, Jan C. & Williams, Jenny, 2007. "Cannabis prices and dynamics of cannabis use," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 578-596, May.
    5. Joshua D. Angrist & Jörn-Steffen Pischke, 2009. "Mostly Harmless Econometrics: An Empiricist's Companion," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 8769.
    6. Rosalie L. Pacula & David Powell & Paul Heaton & Eric L. Sevigny, 2015. "Assessing the Effects of Medical Marijuana Laws on Marijuana Use: The Devil is in the Details," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 34(1), pages 7-31, January.
    7. Fabrice Etilé, 2006. "Who does the hat fit? Teenager heterogeneity and the effectiveness of information policies in preventing cannabis use and heavy drinking," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 15(7), pages 697-718, July.
    8. Jan C. van Ours, 2006. "Dynamics in the use of drugs," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 15(12), pages 1283-1294, December.
    9. Pinka Chatterji, 2006. "Illicit drug use and educational attainment," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 15(5), pages 489-511, May.
    10. Stephen Pudney, 2010. "Drugs policy: what should we do about cannabis? [Taxes, cigarette consumption and smoking intensity]," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 25(61), pages 165-211.
    11. Mikael Svensson & Curt Hagquist, 2010. "Adolescents alcohol-use and economic conditions: a multilevel analysis of data from a period with big economic changes," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 11(6), pages 533-541, December.
    12. Stephen Pudney, 2004. "Keeping off the grass? An econometric model of cannabis consumption in Britain," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(4), pages 435-453.
    13. Boschi, Melisso & Girardi, Alessandro & Ventura, Marco, 2014. "Partial credit guarantees and SMEs financing," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 15(C), pages 182-194.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Janina Petkeviciene & Vilma Kriaucioniene & Asta Raskiliene, 2022. "Academic Achievements, Satisfaction with Studies and Risky Behaviours among First-Year Students of Kaunas (Lithuania) Universities, 2000–2017," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(13), pages 1-12, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jan C. Ours & Jenny Williams, 2015. "Cannabis Use And Its Effects On Health, Education And Labor Market Success," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(5), pages 993-1010, December.
    2. Pudney, Stephen & Bryan, Mark & DelBono, Emilia, 2013. "Licensing and regulation of the cannabis market in England and Wales: Towards a cost-benefit analysis," MPRA Paper 50365, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. van Ours, Jan C. & Williams, Jenny, 2007. "Cannabis prices and dynamics of cannabis use," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 578-596, May.
    4. van Ours, J.C., 2011. "The Long and Winding Road to Cannabis Legalization," Discussion Paper 2011-126, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    5. van Ours, Jan C. & Williams, Jenny, 2009. "Why parents worry: Initiation into cannabis use by youth and their educational attainment," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 132-142, January.
    6. Cervený, J. & van Ours, J.C. & Chomynova, Pavla & Mravcik, Viktor, 2015. "Cannabis Decriminalization and the Age of Onset of Cannabis Use," Other publications TiSEM dc587106-0bcc-4d71-a96c-d, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    7. Beau Kilmer & Rosalie Liccardo Pacula, 2010. "Preventing Drug Use," NBER Chapters, in: Targeting Investments in Children: Fighting Poverty When Resources Are Limited, pages 181-220, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. van Ours, Jan C. & Williams, Jenny, 2012. "The effects of cannabis use on physical and mental health," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(4), pages 564-577.
    9. Williams, J. & van Ours, J.C. & Grossmann, M., 2011. "Why Do Some People Want to Legalize Cannabis Use?," Discussion Paper 2011-007, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    10. Anne Bretteville-Jensen, 2006. "Drug Demand – Initiation, Continuation and Quitting," De Economist, Springer, vol. 154(4), pages 491-516, December.
    11. Jan C. van Ours & Jenny Williams, 2011. "Cannabis use and mental health problems," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(7), pages 1137-1156, November.
    12. Johanna Catherine Maclean & Brendan Saloner, 2018. "Substance Use Treatment Provider Behavior and Healthcare Reform: Evidence from Massachusetts," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(1), pages 76-101, January.
    13. repec:zbw:rwirep:0061 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Harald Tauchmann, 2008. "West-East Convergence in the Prevalence of Illicit Drugs: Socioeconomics or Culture?," Ruhr Economic Papers 0061, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universität Dortmund, Universität Duisburg-Essen.
    15. Chakraborty Avinandan & Doremus Jacqueline & Stith Sarah, 2021. "The effects of recreational cannabis access on labor markets: evidence from Colorado," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Sciendo & Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 10(1), pages 1-86, January.
    16. Chu, Yu-Wei Luke & Gershenson, Seth, 2018. "High times: The effect of medical marijuana laws on student time use," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 142-153.
    17. Johanna Catherine Maclean & Brendan Saloner, 2019. "The Effect of Public Insurance Expansions on Substance Use Disorder Treatment: Evidence from the Affordable Care Act," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 38(2), pages 366-393, March.
    18. Girardi, Alessandro & Ventura, Marco & Margani, Patrizia, 2018. "An Indicator of Credit Crunch using Italian Business Surveys," MPRA Paper 88839, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Tauchmann, Harald, 2008. "West-East Convergence in the Prevalence of Illicit Drugs: Socioeconomics or Culture?," Economics Discussion Papers 2008-8, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    20. Jenny Williams & Rosalie Liccardo Pacula & Rosanna Smart, 2019. "De Facto or De Jure? Ethnic Differences in Quit Responses to Legal Protections of Medical Marijuana Dispensaries," NBER Working Papers 25555, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    21. Michael T. French & Ioana Popovici, 2011. "That instrument is lousy! In search of agreement when using instrumental variables estimation in substance use research," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 20(2), pages 127-146, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:10:p:5174-:d:553915. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.