The impact of cannabis legalization in Uruguay on adolescent cannabis use.

ABSTRACT:

Background

In 2013, Uruguay became the first country in the world to legalize recreational cannabis, instituting a non-commercial state regulatory model of production and supply. This study provides the first empirical evidence on its impacts on adolescent use of cannabis and related risks.

Methods

We use a generalization of the synthetic control method (SCM) to estimate the impact of legalization in Uruguay on adolescent past year and month cannabis use, perceived availability of cannabis and perceived risk of cannabis use. We compare biennial high school student self-reported survey data from Montevideo and regions in the interior of Uruguay post-legalization (2014-2018) and post initial implementation (2015-2018) to a synthetic counterfactual constructed using a weighted

SUBMITTER: Laqueur H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10686048 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature