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A lottery test of the effect of dispensaries on emergency room visits in Arizona

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  • Gregory Conyers
  • Ian Ayres

Abstract

In August 2012, the Arizona Department of Health Services conducted a lottery to allocate licenses for the state's first medical marijuana dispensaries. The lottery randomly selected an applicant within each of 69 contested Community Health Analysis Areas to open a dispensary. By comparing 36 zip codes with winning applications to 48 zip codes with losing applications and weighting using propensity scores based on the true probability of winning, we estimate the causal effect of the allocation of a dispensary on the emergency room visits of residents of that zip code. Outcomes of interest are emergency room visits for acute symptoms caused by cannabis, opioids, alcohol, and cocaine. Using emergency room discharge data from 2010 to 2016, we find evidence of an increase in visits for acute cannabis‐related causes for the winning set of zip codes and weak evidence of an increase in visits for opioid‐related causes. The results indicate that in the four years following the lottery, emergency room visits for acute cannabis causes rose by approximately 45% in allocated zip codes relative to non‐allocated zip codes. Because of the high likelihood of spillovers to neighboring zip codes, these effects are likely underestimates.

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  • Gregory Conyers & Ian Ayres, 2020. "A lottery test of the effect of dispensaries on emergency room visits in Arizona," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(8), pages 854-864, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:hlthec:v:29:y:2020:i:8:p:854-864
    DOI: 10.1002/hec.4013
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    2. Coleman Drake & Dylan Nagy & Matthew D. Eisenberg & David Slusky, 2024. "Medical Cannabis Availability and Mental Health: Evidence From New York’s Medical Cannabis Program," NBER Working Papers 32514, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Mathur, Neil K. & Ruhm, Christopher J., 2023. "Marijuana legalization and opioid deaths," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    4. Sabia, Joseph J. & Dave, Dhaval & Alotaibi, Fawaz & Rees, Daniel I., 2024. "The effects of recreational marijuana laws on drug use and crime," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 234(C).
    5. Anderson, D. Mark & Rees, Daniel I., 2021. "The Public Health Effects of Legalizing Marijuana," IZA Discussion Papers 14292, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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