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Abstract
The illicit drug market in the United States has experienced a radical transformation over the past twenty years. Marijuana has progressed from being a federally prohibited substance to being legally permitted for medicinal purposes in over half of the U.S. states. The legal market, however, was largely nonexistent until a 2009 federal memorandum signaled a softer federal position on the drug and unintentionally facilitated a rapid growth in the number of registered medical marijuana patients and legal marijuana suppliers. Medical marijuana dispensaries decrease the non-pecuniary costs associated with marijuana. In this dissertation, I use a self-constructed directory of medical marijuana dispensaries and exploit the within- and across state variation in dispensary openings to estimate the effects of increased marijuana access on opioid abuse, workplace safety, and fatal traffic accidents.In Chapter 2, I examine the relationship between marijuana and opioids. As state medical marijuana markets were expanding, the U.S. opioid epidemic was surging to unprecedented levels. Contradicting the seemingly positive correlation, I provide evidence of a substitutability between cannabis and opioids. I find that dispensaries are associated with fewer opioid-related admissions to treatment facilities and decreases in drug overdose mortalities. These results are strongest for non-Hispanic white males and are concentrated in areas directly exposed to dispensary openings. Because marijuana impairs psychomotor skills, cannabis use is commonly presumed to jeopardize personal safety and the safety of others. Chapter 3 examines the effects of marijuana dispensaries on workplace safety. While a dispensary opening in a county results in increased workplace accidents for service industry firms, I provide evidence of a negative effect on non-service industry firms. The heterogeneous effects are consistent with the significant differences in drug-testing practices across industries. Finally, I extend the analysis to traffic safety and find that a dispensary opening results in fewer deaths involving a drunk driver. Consistent with the relationship established in Chapter 2, I find significant declines in opioid-related traffic deaths. The work in Chapters 2-4 provide insight into several potential spillovers of marijuana proliferation and suggest a substitutability between marijuana and opioids.