Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Feb;30(2):453-469.
doi: 10.1002/hec.4190. Epub 2020 Nov 9.

Marijuana legalization and disability claiming

Johanna Catherine Maclean  1 , Keshar M Ghimire  2 , Lauren Hersch Nicholas  3   4
Affiliations

Marijuana legalization and disability claiming

Johanna Catherine Maclean et al. Health Econ. 2021 Feb.

Abstract

We study the effect of recent legalization of recreational marijuana use laws (RMLs) in the United States on new applications and allowances for Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income over the period 2001-2019. We combine administrative caseload data from the Social Security Administration with state policy changes using two-way fixed-effects methods. We find that RML adoption increases applications for both benefits. However, there is no change in allowances post-RML. We provide suggestive evidence that the observed changes in applications post-RML are driven by increases in marijuana misuse and selective migration, and decreases in unemployment.

Keywords: disability; marijuana; regulation.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

REFERENCES
    1. Atherly, A., Dowd, B. E., Coulam, R. F., & Guy, G. (2012). The effect of HIFA waiver expansions on uninsurance rates in adult populations. Health Services Research, 47(3pt1), 939-962.
    1. Autor, D. H., & Duggan, M. G. (2006). The growth in the social security disability rolls: A fiscal crisis unfolding. The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 20(3), 71-96.
    1. Bradford, A. C., & Bradford, W. D. (2016). Medical marijuana laws reduce prescription medication use in Medicare Part D. Health Affairs, 35(7), 1230-1236.
    1. Cerdá, M., Mauro, C., Hamilton, A., Levy, N. S., Santaella-Tenorio, J., Hasin, D., … Martins, S. S. (2020). Association between recreational marijuana legalization in the United States and changes in marijuana use and cannabis use disorder from 2008 to 2016. JAMA psychiatry, 77(2), 165-171.
    1. Cerdá, M., Wall, M., Feng, T., Keyes, K. M., Sarvet, A., Schulenberg, J., … Hasin, D. S. (2017). Association of state recreational marijuana laws with adolescent marijuana use. JAMA Pediatrics, 171(2), 142-149.

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources