Study published in Journal of Health Economics It deals with tobacco use in the aftermath of the legalization of cannabis. Titled “Have Recreational Marijuana Laws Undercut Public Health Progress Regarding Adult Tobacco Use?” Researchers found that in individual states, cannabis reform led to lower tobacco use. The study was conducted by Bentley University, San Diego State University, and Georgia State University. “This study is the first to comprehensively examine the effect of recreational marijuana legalization on adult tobacco use,” the authors explain.
The researchers revealed three key findings in their study. First, “Phase I” results from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) and the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) “show consistent evidence that RML [recreational marijuana laws] Adoption increases adult marijuana use by 2 to 5 percentage points, including through vaping.”
Second, the authors say they “find No evidence that legalization of recreational marijuana increases adult tobacco use.” Finally, “adoption of RML accompanied by the opening of recreational marijuana dispensaries is associated with larger increases in ENDS [electronic nicotine delivery system] Use of RML accreditation without open dispensaries. ”
Ultimately, the authors write, the growing number of recreational dispensaries “represents an important supply channel for Explain the substitution between marijuana and tobacco among adults.”
However, they conclude that the spread of cannabis has prompted cautionary warnings from public health experts calling for more research. One of their primary concerns is that the rise in cannabis smoking could lead to an unintended “renormalization of smoking” which could set back existing tobacco control policies.
A 1964 Surgeon General’s report famously linked tobacco use to lung cancer, stating that cigarette smoking was “responsible for a 70% increase in the mortality rate of smokers compared to non-smokers,” according to National Library of Medicine. According to Surgeon General Luther L. Terry, the report “hit the country like a bomb. It was front-page news and a news story on every radio and television station in the United States and many abroad.”
After nearly 60 years, widespread tobacco use has declined. The authors found that tobacco use fell earlier in states with legalization of recreational cannabis than in those that did not use it. “The results provide some support for the hypothesis that tobacco use has decreased in many of the early adopter states, most notably in Colorado and Washington, which are also those states that saw the largest increase in marijuana use after the enactment of RML,” The authors concluded.
The authors also note that reducing tobacco use is “consistent with the hypothesis that recreational marijuana and tobacco may be alternatives for some adults.”
in FebruaryCalifornia lawmakers have introduced a bill that would ban tobacco sales to anyone born after 2006 to phase out tobacco use and addiction. but, Big tobacco Industry leaders continue to find new ways to move into the cannabis industry. British American Tobacco (BAT), one of the largest tobacco companies in the world, announced last September that it would buy a German-based cannabis company called Sanity Group GmbH. “We continue to transform our business, by better understanding our current and future customers, as part of our purpose for a better tomorrow,” Kingsley Wheaton, head of growth at BAT, said last year.
Still, data from other studies show evidence that tobacco use continues to decline. a May 2022 The study found that the legalization of cannabis has contributed to lower consumption of alcohol and cigarettes. Another study from July 2022 shows that Cannabis use is supported by Australians Much more than using tobacco, as a Gallup poll conducted one month later in August 2022 showed how Americans smoke More cannabis of cigarettes.
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