Project Title
Does the Legalization of Recreational Marijuana Affect Drug Overdose Deaths?
Faculty Mentor(s) Name(s)
Dr. Conaway
Abstract
The United States is currently in the midst of a drug overdose epidemic. More than 932,000 people have died since 1999 from a drug overdose. The age-adjusted rate of overdose deaths increased by 31% from 2019 to 2020 (CDC). One possible solution to this problem is offering up other alternatives to more dangerous drugs. Marijuana has the potential to slow down this public health crisis. There are currently nineteen states that have legalized marijuana recreationally. I will be using data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Vital Statistics Rapid Release program, the Census, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the US Bureau of Economic Analysis, and data collected from US state-level marijuana law. Each source I pulled data from is panel, consisting of state-level variables over time. I compiled data from each of my sources into one large dataset. I will be estimating the potential effect that recreational marijuana legalization has on drug overdose deaths. I believe that the substitution effect that legalized recreational marijuana has on drugs that people commonly overdose on will be larger than the “gateway drug” effect. Therefore, I expect to find that legalized recreational marijuana will decrease drug overdose deaths.
Does the Legalization of Recreational Marijuana Affect Drug Overdose Deaths?
The United States is currently in the midst of a drug overdose epidemic. More than 932,000 people have died since 1999 from a drug overdose. The age-adjusted rate of overdose deaths increased by 31% from 2019 to 2020 (CDC). One possible solution to this problem is offering up other alternatives to more dangerous drugs. Marijuana has the potential to slow down this public health crisis. There are currently nineteen states that have legalized marijuana recreationally. I will be using data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Vital Statistics Rapid Release program, the Census, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the US Bureau of Economic Analysis, and data collected from US state-level marijuana law. Each source I pulled data from is panel, consisting of state-level variables over time. I compiled data from each of my sources into one large dataset. I will be estimating the potential effect that recreational marijuana legalization has on drug overdose deaths. I believe that the substitution effect that legalized recreational marijuana has on drugs that people commonly overdose on will be larger than the “gateway drug” effect. Therefore, I expect to find that legalized recreational marijuana will decrease drug overdose deaths.