ArticleAddiction (Abingdon, England)2021
Illegal drug market responses to state recreational cannabis laws.
Article in Addiction (Abingdon, England), 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 23 citations in OpenAlex.
- Impact of partial cannabis legalisation in Luxembourg: An interdisciplinary perspective.Drug and alcohol dependence reports · 2026Article
- High stakes: how legal cannabis pricing impacts the illicit market.Journal of cannabis research · 2026Article
- Cannabis legalization and law enforcement drug seizures: a state-level analysis of cannabis policy effects on cannabis seizures in the United States, 2010-2023.The International journal on drug policy · 2026Article
- How Consumers Transition Between Illicit and Legal Cannabis Markets in Early Legalization Periods? Evidence from a National Panel with a Recent Policy Shock.Research square · 2026Article
- Post-legalization shifts in cannabis use among young adults in Georgia-A nationally representative study.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2025Article
- Germany's cannabis act: a catalyst for European drug policy reform?The Lancet regional health. Europe · 2024Review
- The kids aren't alright: The effects of medical marijuana market size on adolescents.Journal of health economics · 2023Article
- Interpol Review of Drug Analysis 2019-2022.Forensic science international. Synergy · 2023Review
- Prenatal substance use policies and newborn health.Health economics · 2022Article
- Marijuana liberalization policies and perinatal health.Journal of health economics · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND
aimsIn the United States, 15 states and the District of Columbia have implemented recreational cannabis laws (RCLs) legalizing recreational cannabis use. We aimed to estimate the association between RCLs and street prices, potency, quality and law enforcement seizures of illegal cannabis, methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin, oxycodone, hydrocodone, morphine, amphetamine and alprazolam.
designWe pooled crowdsourced data from 2010-19 Price of Weed and 2010-19 StreetRx, and administrative data from the 2006-19 System to Retrieve Information from Drug Evidence (STRIDE) and the 2007-19 National Forensic Laboratory Information System (NFLIS). We employed a difference-in-differences design that exploited the staggered implementation of RCLs to compare changes in outcomes between RCL and non-RCL states. SETTING AND CASES: Eleven RCL and 40 non-RCL US states. MEASURES: The primary outcome was the natural log of prices per gram, overall and by self-reported quality. The primary policy was an indicator of RCL implementation, defined using effective dates.
findingsThe street price of cannabis decreased by 9.2% [β = -0.092; 95% confidence interval (CI) = -0.15-, -0.03] in RCL states after RCL implementation, with largest declines among low-quality purchases (β = -0.195; 95% CI = -0.282, -0.108). Price declines were accompanied by a 93% (β = -0.93; 95% CI = -1.51, -0.36) reduction in law enforcement seizures of cannabis in RCL states. Among illegal opioids, including heroin, oxycodone and hydrocodone, street prices increased and law enforcement seizures decreased in RCL states.
conclusionsRecreational cannabis laws in US states appear to be associated with illegal drug market responses in those states, including reductions in the street price of cannabis. Changes in the street prices of illegal opioids analyzed may suggest that in states with recreational cannabis laws the markets for other illegal drugs are not independent of legal cannabis market regulation.
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Registered trials
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