IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/hepoli/v128y2023icp28-33.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Relationships between sales of legal medical cannabis and alcohol in Canada

Author

Listed:
  • Armstrong, Michael J.

Abstract

The extent to which legalizing cannabis use might lead to increased or decreased alcohol use has important implications for public health, economic growth, and government policy. This study analyzed Canada's monthly per capita sales of alcohol and legal medical cannabis using fixed effect panel data linear regressions. The data covered seven Canadian regions from January 2011 to September 2018, and controlled for changing levels of retail activity, alcohol prices, tertiary education, unemployment, and impaired driving penalties. The analysis estimated that each dollar of legal medical cannabis sold was associated with an average alcohol sales decrease of roughly $0.74 to $0.84. This suggests that medical cannabis was an economic substitute for alcohol in Canada, and that the country's 2017–2018 alcohol sales were roughly 1.8% lower than they would have been without legal medical cannabis. The results therefore indirectly imply that reduced alcohol consumption might have partly offset cannabis legalization's health and economic impacts.

Suggested Citation

  • Armstrong, Michael J., 2023. "Relationships between sales of legal medical cannabis and alcohol in Canada," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 28-33.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:hepoli:v:128:y:2023:i:c:p:28-33
    DOI: 10.1016/j.healthpol.2022.11.012
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168851022003049
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.healthpol.2022.11.012?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pengyuan Wang & Guiyang Xiong & Jian Yang, 2019. "Frontiers: Asymmetric Effects of Recreational Cannabis Legalization," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 38(6), pages 927-936, November.
    2. Cox, Chelsea, 2021. "Implications of the 2018 Canadian Cannabis Act: Should regulation differ for medicinal and non-medicinal cannabis use?⋆," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(1), pages 12-16.
    3. Gregory Conyers & Ian Ayres, 2020. "A lottery test of the effect of dispensaries on emergency room visits in Arizona," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(8), pages 854-864, August.
    4. Anderson, D. Mark & Rees, Daniel I., 2021. "The Public Health Effects of Legalizing Marijuana," IZA Discussion Papers 14292, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Rosalie L. Pacula & David Powell & Paul Heaton & Eric L. Sevigny, 2015. "Assessing the Effects of Medical Marijuana Laws on Marijuana Use: The Devil is in the Details," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 34(1), pages 7-31, January.
    6. Dragone, Davide & Prarolo, Giovanni & Vanin, Paolo & Zanella, Giulio, 2019. "Crime and the legalization of recreational marijuana," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 488-501.
    7. Keaton Miller & Boyoung Seo, 2021. "The Effect of Cannabis Legalization on Substance Demand and Tax Revenues," National Tax Journal, University of Chicago Press, vol. 74(1), pages 107-145.
    8. Michele Baggio & Alberto Chong & Sungoh Kwon, 2020. "Marijuana and alcohol: Evidence using border analysis and retail sales data," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 53(2), pages 563-591, May.
    9. Wen, Hefei & Hockenberry, Jason M. & Cummings, Janet R., 2015. "The effect of medical marijuana laws on adolescent and adult use of marijuana, alcohol, and other substances," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 64-80.
    10. D. Mark Anderson & Benjamin Hansen & Daniel I. Rees, 2013. "Medical Marijuana Laws, Traffic Fatalities, and Alcohol Consumption," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 56(2), pages 333-369.
    11. Joseph J. Sabia & Jeffrey Swigert & Timothy Young, 2017. "The Effect of Medical Marijuana Laws on Body Weight," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(1), pages 6-34, January.
    12. D. Mark Anderson & Daniel I. Rees, 2021. "The Public Health Effects of Legalizing Marijuana," NBER Working Papers 28647, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mir M. Ali & Chandler McClellan & Ryan Mutter & Daniel I. Rees, 2023. "Recreational marijuana laws and the misuse of prescription opioids: Evidence from National Survey on Drug Use and Health microdata," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(2), pages 277-301, February.
    2. Sabia, Joseph J. & Dave, Dhaval & Alotaibi, Fawaz & Rees, Daniel I., 2024. "The effects of recreational marijuana laws on drug use and crime," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 234(C).
    3. Thanh Lu, 2021. "Marijuana legalization and household spending on food and alcohol," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(7), pages 1684-1696, July.
    4. Cameron M. Ellis & Martin F. Grace & Rhet A. Smith & Juan Zhang, 2022. "Medical cannabis and automobile accidents: Evidence from auto insurance," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(9), pages 1878-1897, September.
    5. Smart, Rosanna & Doremus, Jacqueline, 2023. "The kids aren’t alright: The effects of medical marijuana market size on adolescents," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    6. Carrieri, Vincenzo & Madio, Leonardo & Principe, Francesco, 2019. "Light cannabis and organized crime: Evidence from (unintended) liberalization in Italy," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 63-76.
    7. Borbely, Daniel & Lenhart, Otto & Norris, Jonathan & Romiti, Agnese, 2022. "Marijuana Legalization and Mental Health," IZA Discussion Papers 15729, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Meinhofer, Angélica & Witman, Allison E. & Hinde, Jesse M. & Simon, Kosali, 2021. "Marijuana liberalization policies and perinatal health," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    9. Johanna Catherine Maclean & Lauren Hersch Nicholas & Keshar M. Ghimire, 2017. "The Impact of State Medical Marijuana Laws on Social Security Disability Insurance and Workers' Compensation Benefit Claiming," Working Papers id:12111, eSocialSciences.
    10. Christian Gunadi, 2022. "Does expanding access to cannabis affect traffic crashes? County‐level evidence from recreational marijuana dispensary sales in Colorado," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(10), pages 2244-2268, October.
    11. Michele Baggio & Alberto Chong & David Simon, 2018. "Sex, Drugs, and Baby Booms: Can Behavior Overcome Biology?," NBER Working Papers 25208, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Chu, Yu-Wei Luke & Townsend, Wilbur, 2019. "Joint culpability: The effects of medical marijuana laws on crime," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 502-525.
    13. Carrieri, Vincenzo & Madio, Leonardo & Principe, Francesco, 2020. "Do-It-Yourself medicine? The impact of light cannabis liberalization on prescription drugs," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    14. Keshar M. Ghimire & Johanna Catherine Maclean, 2020. "Medical marijuana and workers' compensation claiming," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(4), pages 419-434, April.
    15. Johanna Catherine Maclean & Keshar M. Ghimire & Lauren Hersch Nicholas, 2021. "Marijuana legalization and disability claiming," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(2), pages 453-469, February.
    16. Junxing Chay & Seonghoon Kim, 2022. "Heterogeneous health effects of medical marijuana legalization: Evidence from young adults in the United States," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(2), pages 269-283, February.
    17. Gunadi, Christian, 2021. "Does Expanding Access to Cannabis Affect Traffic Crashes? County-Level Evidence from Recreational Marijuana Dispensary Sales in Colorado," GLO Discussion Paper Series 964, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    18. Raymond J. March & Veeshan Rayamajhee & Glenn L. Furton, 2022. "Cloudy with a chance of munchies: Assessing the impact of recreational marijuana legalization on obesity," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(12), pages 2609-2629, December.
    19. Grant W. Neeley & Lilliard E. Richardson Jr., 2022. "Marijuana Policy Bundles in the American States Over Time and Their Impact on the Use of Marijuana and Other Drugs," Evaluation Review, , vol. 46(2), pages 165-199, April.
    20. Petrova, Olga & Gray, Natallia, 2021. "The effects of medical marijuana laws on birth outcomes: Evidence from early adopting U.S. states," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 68-82.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:hepoli:v:128:y:2023:i:c:p:28-33. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu or the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/healthpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.