“Because I Got High? Recreational Marijuana Legalization’s Impact on Opioid Overdose Deaths”

The title of this post is the title of this notable paper just recently posted to SSRN authored by Elisha Denkyirah, Raymond March, Glenn Furton, Veeshan Rayamajhee and Ryan Yonk. Here is its abstract:

We examine the effect of recreational marijuana legalization (RML) on opioid overdose deaths.  Using several event studies and a two-way fixed-effects, difference-indifferences approach adapted to the methods developed by Callaway and Sant’Anna (2021), we find a consistent negative relationship between RML and opioid overdose deaths.  Most of our estimates show that RML is associated with a decrease of approximately 3.5 deaths per 100,000 individuals. We also find more significant treatment effects for states that implemented RML earlier.  Our analysis provides insight into the relationship between marijuana access and opioid overdose deaths and into opioid and marijuana policies.