Do-It-Yourself medicine? The impact of light cannabis liberalization on prescription drugs

Vincenzo Carrieri ( ), Leonardo Madio ( ) and Francesco Principe ( )

Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers from HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York

Abstract: This paper provides the first analysis of â€œDo-it-Yourself Medicineâ€ concerning marijuana consumption by studying the effects of the unintended liberalization of light cannabis that took place in Italy in 2016 on prescription drugs sales. Using a unique and high-frequency dataset on monthly sales of drugs and the location of light cannabis retailers and adopting a staggered DiD research design, we find that the local market accessibility of light cannabis led to a reduction in dispensed packets of opioids, anxiolytics, sedatives, anti-migraines, antiepileptics, anti-depressives and anti-psychotics. This calls for an effective regulation of the market and a proper evaluation of the use of light cannabis for medical purposes.

Keywords: light cannabis; self-medication; marijuana; differences-in-differences; prescriptions (search for similar items in EconPapers)

JEL-codes: H51 H75 I18 K32 K42 (search for similar items in EconPapers)

Date: 2019-04

New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea and nep-law

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Working Paper: Do-It-Yourself Medicine? The Impact of Light Cannabis Liberalization on Prescription Drugs (2020)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:yor:hectdg:19/07

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