Working Paper: NBER ID: w29296
Authors: Anglica Meinhofer; Allison E. Witman; Jesse M. Hinde; Kosali I. Simon
Abstract: We studied the effect of marijuana liberalization policies on perinatal health with a multiperiod difference-in-differences estimator that exploited variation in effective dates of medical marijuana laws (MML) and recreational marijuana laws (RML). We found that the proportion of maternal hospitalizations with marijuana use disorder increased by 23% (0.3 percentage points) in the first three years after RML implementation, with larger effects in states authorizing commercial sales of marijuana. This growth was accompanied by a 7% (0.4 percentage points) decline in tobacco use disorder hospitalizations, yielding a net zero effect over all substance use disorder hospitalizations. RMLs were not associated with changes in newborn health. MMLs had no significant effect on maternal substance use disorder hospitalizations nor on newborn health and fairly small effects could be ruled out. In absolute numbers, our findings implied modest or no adverse effects of marijuana liberalization policies on the array of perinatal outcomes considered.
Keywords: Marijuana; Perinatal Health; Substance Use Disorder
JEL Codes: I0
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Recreational marijuana laws (RMLs) (R48) | Maternal hospitalizations involving marijuana use disorder (J13) |
| Recreational marijuana laws (RMLs) (R48) | Tobacco use disorder hospitalizations (I12) |
| Recreational marijuana laws (RMLs) (R48) | Newborn health outcomes (I14) |
| Medical marijuana laws (MMLs) (I18) | Maternal substance use disorder hospitalizations (I12) |
| Medical marijuana laws (MMLs) (I18) | Newborn health outcomes (I14) |