Work

Medical Cannabis Availability and Mental Health: Evidence From New York’s Medical Cannabis Program

Year: 2024

Type: report

Abstract: Evidence on cannabis legalization's effects on mental health remains scarce, despite both rapid increases in cannabis use and an ongoing mental health crisis in the United States.We use granular geographic data to estimate medical cannabis dispensary availability's effects on selfreported mental health in New York state from 2011 through 2021 using a two-stage differencein-differences approach to minimize bias introduced from the staggered opening of dispensaries.Our findings rule out that medical cannabis availability had negative effects on mental health for the adult population overall.We also find that medical cannabis availability reduced past-month self-reported poor mental health days by nearly 10%-3.37 percentage points-among adults 65 and above.These results suggest medical cannabis access has positive health impacts for older populations, likely through pain relief.

Source: National Bureau of Economic Research

DOI: 10.3386/w32514

Authors: Coleman Drake, Dylan Nagy, Matthew Eisenberg, David Slusky

Institutions: National Bureau of Economic Research, Johns Hopkins University, University of Kansas, University of Pittsburgh

Language: English

Topic: Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research

Subfield: Pharmacology

Field: Medicine

Domain: Health Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: green

Funder: National Institute on Drug Abuse