State Cannabis Laws and Substance Use Disorder Treatment Admissions

In 2017, over 70,000 Americans died from drug overdose. An emerging body of research suggests that medical cannabis (MC) legalization policies can serve as a response to the opioid epidemic and are associated with decreases in overdose death, opioid analgesic prescriptions, and substance use disorder (SUD) treatment admissions. Little research has been done, however, to assess the impact of adult-use cannabis (AUC) policies on these outcomes. A Capstone team used the Treatment Episode Data Set of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to estimate the effect of AUC and MC legalization on SUD treatment admissions. The team used difference-in-difference and synthetic control techniques to generate estimates in the absence of available data. The team’s findings will aid policymakers in better understanding the impacts of AUC and MC legalization as one strategy to address the opioid epidemic.