RT Journal Article
SR 00
ID 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2020.102371
A1 Carrieri, Vincenzo
A1 Madio, Leonardo
A1 Principe, Francesco
T1 Do-It-Yourself medicine? The impact of light cannabis liberalization on prescription drugs
JF Journal of Health Economics
YR 2020
FD 2020-12
IS 74
K1 Light cannabis, self-medication, marijuana, difference-in-difference, prescription drugs, CBD.
AB Governments worldwide are increasingly concerned about the booming use of CBD (cannabidiol)  products. However, we know little about the impact of their liberalization. We study a unique case of  unintended liberalization of a CBD-based product (light cannabis) that occurred in Italy in 2017.  Using unique and high-frequency data on prescription drug sales and by exploiting the staggered local  availability of the new product in each Italian province, we document a significant substitution effect  between light cannabis and anxiolytics, sedatives, opioids, anti-depressants and anti-psychotics.  Results are informative for regulators and suggest that bans on light cannabis use would disregard the  needs of patients to seek effective reliefs of their symptoms.
PB Elsevier
SN 0167-6296
LK https://publications.ut-capitole.fr/id/eprint/41762/
UL https://www.tse-fr.eu/sites/default/files/TSE/documents/doc/by/madio/health_madio.pdf