ARE THERE ECONOMIC COSTS OF MARIJUANA USE?

这项为期三年的研究项目的目的是确定和量化与经常使用大麻有关的一些潜在的私人和社会成本，以便启发正在进行的关于政策改革和公共资金分配到治疗和预防工作的辩论。本项目将采用类似于Manning等人（1989）和Cook（1991）在分析香烟和酒精使用的社会成本时所使用的方法。特别是，该项目将评估定期使用大麻对(1)教育程度，(2)犯罪和(3)医疗保健利用的生命周期影响，使用横断面，面板和时间序列数据集进行二次分析。将审查的数据集包括全国青年纵向调查、1988年全国教育纵向调查、监测未来调查、药物使用预测系统、药物滥用警告网络和全国医院出院调查。在确定大麻使用对这些结果的影响后，将评估这些成本的社会和私人性质。将努力控制同时使用其他物质，特别是酒精和香烟，以便有可能确定明显可归因于吸食大麻的后果。本研究将处理的具体问题包括：(1)大麻需求的关键决定因素是什么？它们是否会随着个人的一生而改变？(2)经常使用或滥用大麻是否会对教育程度产生负面影响？(3)大麻使用是否会促进犯罪活动？(4)滥用大麻在多大程度上导致医院急诊室发作？(5)经常使用或滥用大麻是否会增加非大麻相关疾病的住院费用？在可能的情况下，这种分析将确定在阻止大麻使用或将其使用相关的社会成本降至最低方面成功的公共政策。

The purpose of this three-year research project is to identify and quantify some of the potential private and social costs associated with regular marijuana use so as to enlighten the ongoing debates regarding policy reform and allocation of public funds to treatment and prevention efforts. This project will apply a methodology similar to that used by Manning et al. (1989) and Cook (1991) in their analyses of the social costs of cigarette and alcohol use. In particular, this project will evaluate the life-cycle effects of regular marijuana use on (1) educational attainment, (2) crime, and (3) health care utilization, using secondary analysis of cross-sectional, panel and time-series data sets. Data sets that will be examined include the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, the National Education Longitudinal Survey of 1988, the Monitoring the Future Survey, the Drug Use Forecasting System, the Drug Abuse Warning Network, and the National Hospital Discharge Survey. Upon identifying the impact of marijuana use on these outcomes, the social and private nature of these costs will be evaluated. Efforts will be taken to control for concurrent use of other substances, particularly alcohol and cigarettes, so that it will be possible to identify outcomes that are clearly attributable to the consumption of marijuana. Particular questions that will be addressed by this study include the following: (1) What are the key determinants of demand for marijuana and do they change over the individual's lifetime, (2) Does regular marijuana use or abuse have a negative effect on educational attainment, (3) Does marijuana use promote criminal activity, (4) To what degree does misuse of marijuana lead to hospital emergency room episodes, and (5) Does regular marijuana use or abuse increase the cost of in-patient stays for non-marijuana related illnesses. When possible, this analysis will identify public policies that are successful at either discouraging the use of marijuana or minimizing the social cost associated with its use.