Legalized recreational marijuana a substitute for alcohol, but not tobacco
July 17, 2019
Science Daily/Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences
The recent wave of recreational cannabis legalization across the U.S. could generate $22 billion in sales per year, but not everyone is happy about it. New research to be published in an upcoming edition of the INFORMS journal Marketing Science, titled, "Asymmetric Effects of Recreational Cannabis Legalization," shows the alcohol industry could be impacted when the substance is legalized.
"It appears the alcohol industry has valid reason to be concerned about legal marijuana and may need creative strategies to avoid market decline if it passes," said Pengyuan Wang, an assistant professor in the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia.
The study shows online searches for alcohol saw a drop of nearly 11%, but tobacco products were searched online nearly 8% more often.
The U.S. alcohol and tobacco industries are worth a combined $300 billion. They are typically avid opponents of marijuana legalization legislation, but this research suggests, "tobacco companies may need to reexamine their presumption, and that anti-cannabis legalization is not to the best of their interest," said Wang.
The research by Wang and co-author Guiyang Xiong of Syracuse University looked at anonymous data from 28 million online searches and 120 million ad impressions from a leading U.S.-based web portal from January 2014 to April 2017.
The study also found the legalization of recreational marijuana increases online searches by adults by 17%. There is actually a decrease in searches done by those age 19 years and younger after the substance is legalized.
"Contrary to widely held public concern after recreational cannabis is legalized, teenagers appear to lose interest, rather than gain interest," added Wang. "Policymakers only concerned with an uptick in teen users, may want to rethink their stance."
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/07/190717122621.htm
Legal marijuana reduces chronic pain, but increases injuries and car accidents
Overall hospital stays remain steady after colorado legalized cannabis
May 15, 2019
Science Daily/University of California - San Francisco
The legalization of recreational marijuana is associated with an increase in its abuse, injury due to overdoses, and car accidents, but does not significantly change health care use overall, according to a study by researchers at UC San Francisco.
In a review of more than 28 million hospital records from the two years before and after cannabis was legalized in Colorado, UCSF researchers found that Colorado hospital admissions for cannabis abuse increased after legalization, in comparison to other states. But taking the totality of all hospital admissions and time spent in hospitals into account, there was not an appreciable increase after recreational cannabis was legalized.
The study, appearing online May 15, 2019, in BMJ Open, also found fewer diagnoses of chronic pain after legalization, consistent with a 2017 National Academy of Sciences report that concluded substantial evidence exists that cannabis can reduce chronic pain.
"We need to think carefully about the potential health effects of substantially enhancing the accessibility of cannabis, as has been done now in the majority of states," said senior author Gregory Marcus, MD, MAS, a UCSF Health cardiologist and associate chief of cardiology for research in the UCSF Division of Cardiology.
"This unique transition to legalization provides an extraordinary opportunity to investigate hospitalizations among millions of individuals in the presence of enhanced access," Marcus continued. "Our findings demonstrate several potential harmful effects that are relevant for physicians and policymakers, as well as for individuals considering cannabis use."
According to the 2014 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, more than 117 million Americans, or 44.2 percent of all Americans, have used cannabis in their lifetime, and more than 22 million Americans report having used it within the past 30 days. While its use is a federal crime as a controlled substance, 28 states and the District of Columbia now allow it for treating medical conditions. Nine of those states have legalized it for recreational use.
To understand the potential shifts in health care use resulting from widespread policy changes, Marcus and his colleagues reviewed the records of more than 28 million individuals in Colorado, New York and Oklahoma from the 2010-2014 Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project, which included 16 million hospitalizations. They compared the rates of health care utilization and diagnoses in Colorado two years before and two years after recreational marijuana was legalized in December 2012 to New York, as a geographically distant and urban state, and to Oklahoma, as a geographically close and mainly rural state.
The researchers found that after legalization, Colorado experienced a 10 percent increase in motor vehicle accidents, as well as a 5 percent increase in alcohol abuse and overdoses that resulted in injury or death. At the same time, the state saw a 5 percent decrease in hospital admissions for chronic pain, Marcus said.
"There has been a dearth of rigorous research regarding the actual health effects of cannabis consumption, particularly on the level of public health," said Marcus, holder of the Endowed Professorship of Atrial Fibrillation Research in the UCSF School of Medicine. "These data demonstrate the need to caution strongly against driving while under the influence of any mind-altering substance, such as cannabis, and may suggest that efforts to combat addiction and abuse of other recreational drugs become even more important once cannabis has been legalized."
The study findings may be beneficial in guiding future decisions regarding cannabis policy, the researchers said.
"While it's convenient and often most compelling to simplistically conclude a particular public policy is 'good' or 'bad,' an honest assessment of actual effects is much more complex," Marcus said. "Those effects are very likely variable, depending on each individual's idiosyncratic needs, propensities and circumstances. Using the revenues from recreational cannabis to support this sort of research likely would be a wise investment, both financially and for overall public health."
The researchers could not explain why overall health care utilization remained essentially neutral, but said the harmful effects simply may have been diluted among the much larger number of total hospitalizations. They said it also may be that some beneficial effects, either at the individual or societal level, such as violent crime, counterbalanced the negatives.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/05/190515110341.htm
Recreational marijuana legalization: Do more youth use or do youth use more?
What impact may legalization of recreational marijuana in Oregon have on teen marijuana use?
January 8, 2018
Science Daily/Oregon Research Institute
What impact may legalization of recreational marijuana in Oregon have on teen marijuana use? Recent results from an Oregon Research Institute (ORI) study indicate that the influence of legalization on youth may depend on whether they were already using at the time of legalization. Following legalization of recreational marijuana, no significant changes in the numbers of youth who used marijuana occurred, yet increases in the frequency of use by youth who were already using marijuana were found. For teenagers who had tried marijuana by 8th grade, the frequency of use during the following year increased 26% more for those who were in 9th grade after marijuana was legalized compared to those who were in 9th grade prior to legalization. The research results are published online in Psychology of Addictive Behaviors.
"When making policy decisions about marijuana, it is important to consider how those policies can effect teenagers. Although legalization of recreational marijuana prohibits use in those under 21, changes in youth attitudes toward marijuana, age of initiation, and frequency of use may occur," said Julie C. Rusby, Ph.D., principal investigator of the research.
When Oregon began legal sales of recreational marijuana in October 2015, Rusby and her team were perfectly positioned. Their study examining substance use among Oregon 8th and 9th graders was already underway and investigators were able to collect data about youth marijuana use before and after legalization. Additionally, Oregon allowed counties and cities to prohibit marijuana sales, so investigators examined the impact of community sales policy on teenagers' use. Teenagers from 11 rural and suburban middle schools in seven Oregon school districts answered surveys about their marijuana use, attitudes towards marijuana, and willingness to use marijuana. Their parents answered questions about their own use of marijuana.
The association of legalization with changes in youth marijuana use varied by the sales policy of the community. Youth surveyed prior to legalization from communities that later prohibited sales were less likely to increase willingness and intent to try marijuana compared to those from communities that later allowed sales. Similarly, youth surveyed prior to legalization from communities prohibiting sales increased marijuana use at a lower rate by the spring of ninth grade compared with youth in communities with sales. Youth surveyed post-legalization from communities with marijuana sales had lower rates of marijuana use during spring of eighth grade and increased marijuana use almost twice as much by the spring of ninth grade compared with the other groups. There were no differences for legalization and community policy on parent report of their own use.
"In states that legalize recreational marijuana, study results point to the importance of preventing youth who use marijuana from escalating their use," noted Rusby.
The results indicate there may be an immediate impact of legalization for youth who had already initiated marijuana use because they increased their use after legalization. This was true even in communities that prohibited recreational marijuana sales, indicating that community sales policies may not effectively reduce the frequency of use by teenagers. Research that follows up teenage marijuana use post-legalization for a longer period of time and in different locations could further contribute to inform marijuana policy. Prevention campaigns that educate youth of the risks of using marijuana while their brains are still developing, and building capacity and resources for parents to discuss marijuana with their adolescent children, may provide guidance as communities and states navigate the new landscape of legal recreational marijuana.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/01/180108161204.htm