IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/hlthec/v34y2025i5p815-820.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Drug Decriminalization and Fatal Traffic Crashes: Evidence From BM110 in Oregon

Author

Listed:
  • Christian Gunadi
  • Yuyan Shi

Abstract

Oregon Ballot Measure 110 (BM 110) reduced the penalties for non‐commercial possession of a controlled substance, downgrading them from a felony or misdemeanor to a new Class E violation, punishable by a maximum $100 fine. In this paper, we investigate whether BM 110 was associated with changes in drug‐related fatal traffic crashes in Oregon after its implementation in February 2021. To do so, we used Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) data from 2018 to 2021 to calculate population‐adjusted state‐level drug‐related fatal traffic crashes. We also employed a modified synthetic control method to create a “synthetic” Oregon, designed to closely resemble the state's pre‐policy sociodemographic characteristics and outcome trends while correcting for time‐invariant pre‐policy differences. The findings show that BM 110 was not associated with changes in drug‐related fatal traffic crashes per 100,000 population (0.114, 95% CI: −0.106, 0.334). These results suggest that the implementation of BM 110 did not change drug‐related fatal traffic crashes in Oregon in the early period following its adoption.

Suggested Citation

  • Christian Gunadi & Yuyan Shi, 2025. "Drug Decriminalization and Fatal Traffic Crashes: Evidence From BM110 in Oregon," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 34(5), pages 815-820, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:hlthec:v:34:y:2025:i:5:p:815-820
    DOI: 10.1002/hec.4944
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/hec.4944
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/hec.4944?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alberto Abadie & Alexis Diamond & Jens Hainmueller, 2015. "Comparative Politics and the Synthetic Control Method," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 59(2), pages 495-510, February.
    2. Charles J. Courtemanche & Daniela Zapata, 2014. "Does Universal Coverage Improve Health? The Massachusetts Experience," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(1), pages 36-69, January.
    3. Joseph J. Sabia & Dhaval M. Dave & Fawaz Alotaibi & Daniel I. Rees, 2021. "Is Recreational Marijuana a Gateway to Harder Drug Use and Crime?," NBER Working Papers 29038, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Noémi Kreif & Richard Grieve & Dominik Hangartner & Alex James Turner & Silviya Nikolova & Matt Sutton, 2016. "Examination of the Synthetic Control Method for Evaluating Health Policies with Multiple Treated Units," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(12), pages 1514-1528, December.
    5. Benjamin Hansen & Keaton Miller & Caroline Weber, 2020. "Early Evidence On Recreational Marijuana Legalization And Traffic Fatalities," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 58(2), pages 547-568, April.
    6. Noah Spencer, 2022. "Does decriminalization cause more drug overdose deaths? Evidence from Oregon Measure 110," Working Papers tecipa-745, University of Toronto, Department of Economics.
    7. Aydelotte, J.D. & Brown, L.H. & Luftman, K.M. & Mardock, A.L. & Teixeira, P.G.R. & Coopwood, B. & Brown, C.V.R., 2017. "Crash fatality rates after recreational marijuana legalization in Washington and Colorado," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 107(8), pages 1329-1331.
    8. Alberto Abadie, 2021. "Using Synthetic Controls: Feasibility, Data Requirements, and Methodological Aspects," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 59(2), pages 391-425, June.
    9. repec:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2017.303848_8 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Abadie, Alberto & Diamond, Alexis & Hainmueller, Jens, 2010. "Synthetic Control Methods for Comparative Case Studies: Estimating the Effect of California’s Tobacco Control Program," Journal of the American Statistical Association, American Statistical Association, vol. 105(490), pages 493-505.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Cummins Joseph & Miller Douglas L. & Smith Brock & Simon David, 2024. "Matching on Noise: Finite Sample Bias in the Synthetic Control Estimator," Journal of Econometric Methods, De Gruyter, vol. 13(1), pages 67-95, January.
    2. Tomasz Serwach, 2023. "The European Union and within‐country income inequalities. The case of the new member states," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(7), pages 1890-1939, July.
    3. Tomasz Serwach, 2022. "The European Union and within-country income inequalities. The case of the New Member States," Working Papers hal-03548416, HAL.
    4. Denti, Daria & Iammarino, Simona, 2022. "Coming Out of the Woods. Do local support services influence the propensity to report sexual violence?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 193(C), pages 334-352.
    5. Omid Zamani & Craig Chibanda & Mavis Boimah & Collins Asante-Addo, 2025. "Aligning policy for success in developing countries: evidence from the poultry sector of Ghana," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 13(1), pages 1-19, December.
    6. David Gilchrist & Thomas Emery & Nuno Garoupa & Rok Spruk, 2023. "Synthetic Control Method: A tool for comparative case studies in economic history," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(2), pages 409-445, April.
    7. Amos Z. B. Flomo & Elissaios Papyrakis & Natascha Wagner, 2023. "Evaluating the economic effects of the Ebola virus disease in Liberia: A synthetic control approach," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 35(6), pages 1478-1504, August.
    8. Wu, Rongxin & Tan, Zhizhou & Lin, Boqiang, 2023. "Does carbon emission trading scheme really improve the CO2 emission efficiency? Evidence from China's iron and steel industry," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 277(C).
    9. Ben Katoka & Huck‐ju Kwon, 2021. "A Paradox of New Deal and Foreign Aid for Fragile States in Sub‐Saharan Africa," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 12(5), pages 639-652, November.
    10. Brett Parker, 2021. "Death Penalty Statutes and Murder Rates: Evidence From Synthetic Controls," Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 18(3), pages 488-533, September.
    11. Oliver, Edward & Kourouklis, Dimitrios & Jofre-Bonet, Mireia, 2024. "Do R&D tax credits impact pharmaceutical innovation? Evidence from a synthetic control approach," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(8).
    12. Chan, Ho Fai & Gangl, Katharina & Supriyadi, Mohammad Wangsit & Torgler, Benno, 2023. "The effects of increased monitoring on high wealth individuals: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in Indonesia," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 215(C), pages 244-267.
    13. Fernando Martin Mayoral & Carlos Andrés Rivera Lasso, 2025. "From Conflict to Prosperity: The Economic Impact of the Colombian Peace Agreements," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 37(3), pages 758-772, April.
    14. Scheifele, F. & Bräuning, M. & Probst, B., 2022. "The impact of local content requirements on the development of export competitiveness in solar and wind technologies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    15. Haobing Liu & Daejin Kim & Hanyan Li & Michael O. Rodgers & Randall Guensler, 2024. "Synthetic control methods for estimating the effect of purchase incentives on plug-in electric vehicles sales in the United States," Transportation, Springer, vol. 51(4), pages 1209-1238, August.
    16. Tim Bersak & Richard Gearhart & Nyakundi Michieka, 2024. "CBD as a cure‐all? The impacts of state‐level legalization of prescription cannabidiol (CBD) on opioid prescriptions," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 90(3), pages 701-740, January.
    17. Echevarría, Cruz A. & Hasancebi, Serhat & García-Enríquez, Javier, 2022. "Economic Effects of Macao’s Integration with Mainland China: A Causal Inference Study," Journal of Economic Integration, Center for Economic Integration, Sejong University, vol. 37(2), pages 179-215.
    18. Daniel Albalate & Germà Bel & Ferran A. Mazaira-Font, 2020. "Ensuring Stability, Accuracy and Meaningfulness in Synthetic Control Methods: The Regularized SHAP-Distance Method," IREA Working Papers 202005, University of Barcelona, Research Institute of Applied Economics, revised Apr 2020.
    19. Bruno Ferman & Cristine Pinto & Vitor Possebom, 2020. "Cherry Picking with Synthetic Controls," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 39(2), pages 510-532, March.
    20. Manuel Funke & Moritz Schularick & Christoph Trebesch, 2023. "Populist Leaders and the Economy," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 113(12), pages 3249-3288, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:wly:hlthec:v:34:y:2025:i:5:p:815-820. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/jhome/5749 .

    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.