Marijuana Legalization: Assessing the Impact of Local Regulatory Policies

 描述（由申请人提供）：华盛顿和俄勒冈州是最近将娱乐性大麻合法化的仅有的四个州之一，这是美国和全世界前所未有的法律的变化。关于合法化的潜在积极和消极影响存在争议，但人们一致认为，合法化的某些潜在消极后果应该得到缓解，包括青年使用，药物依赖和驾驶障碍。 作为对州政府将娱乐用大麻合法化的回应，一些社区正在启动额外的大麻监管政策或税收。目前，没有证据基础来预测这些地方政策行动对缓和大麻合法化的潜在负面后果的有效性，或者这些政策如何与其他公共卫生和社会结果（例如，伤害、犯罪、税收）。此外，目前还不清楚不同的州税收结构如何影响娱乐市场的性质（例如，这可能反过来影响合法化的公共健康和社会成果。 拟议研究的目的是：（1）描述地方（市或县）政策的实施情况，以规范医疗或娱乐大麻（例如，分区条例，税收）和与零售商密度的关联;（2） 评估娱乐大麻市场的活动（例如，产品、价格和效力），以及不同的州税基是否与不同的产品效力相关联;以及（3）评估城市或县级大麻政策（例如，地方分区限制或税收）减轻 大麻合法化的关键潜在负面影响（即，青少年大麻使用、驾驶障碍、药物依赖、急诊室就诊、住院），以及它们是否与其他公共卫生和社会结果相关（即，成人大麻使用，逮捕，其他物质使用，教育成果，税收）。 我们将收集和审查这两个州的社区当地大麻政策，并使用中断的时间序列设计来评估当地政策与行为，公共卫生和社会结果之间的关联。我们将依靠多个已建立的公共卫生监测和其他与行为监测、健康、安全、治疗和犯罪系统相关的数据报告机制，这些机制在两个州都很常见。此外，我们将分析来自新大麻市场的交易级数据，以描述社区级市场和消费者行为以及收入。 这项研究的结果将使政策制定者和其他利益攸关方了解合法化是如何实施的，并提供强有力的证据证明地方政策行动对减轻负面影响的有效性。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Washington and Oregon are among only four states to have recently legalized recreational marijuana, a legal change unprecedented in the U.S. and worldwide. Debate exists about the potential positive and negative impacts of legalization, but there is agreement that certain potential negative consequences of legalization should be mitigated, including youth use, drug dependency, and impaired driving. In response to state legalization of recreational marijuana, some communities are initiating additional marijuana regulatory policies or taxes. Currently, there is no evidence base to predict the effectiveness of such local policy actions for moderating the potential negative consequences of marijuana legalization, or how these policies are related to other public health and social outcomes (e.g., injuries, crime, tax revenue). Furthermore, it is unclear how different state tax structures may influence properties of the recreational market (e.g., THC potency of products), which could in turn influence public health and social outcomes of legalization. The Aims of the proposed study are to: (1) Describe implementation of local (city or county) policies to regulate medical o recreational marijuana (e.g., zoning ordinances, taxes) and association with retailer density; (2) Assess activities of the recreational marijuana market (e.g., product, price and potency), and whether different state tax bases are associated with different product potency; and (3) Assess whether city or county-level marijuana policies (e.g., local zoning restrictions or taxes) mitigate key potential negative impacts of marijuana legalization (i.e., youth marijuana use, impaired driving, drug dependence, emergency department visits, hospitalizations), and whether they are associated with other public health and social outcomes (i.e., adult marijuana use, arrests, other substance use, educational outcomes, tax revenues). We will collect and review local marijuana policies across communities in both states, and use an interrupted time series design to assess the association between local policies and behavioral, public health and social outcomes. We will rely on multiple established public health surveillance and other data reporting mechanisms associated with behavioral surveillance, health, safety, treatment and crime systems, which are largely common across both states. Additionally, we will analyze transaction-level data from the new marijuana markets to describe community-level market and consumer behaviors as well as revenue. Findings from this study will provide policymakers and other stakeholders with understanding of how legalization is being implemented, and strong evidence about the effectiveness of local policy actions for mitigating negative impacts.