Is cannabis a gateway to hard drugs?

Hans Olav Melberg (), Anne Line Bretteville-Jensen and Andrew Michael Jones ()

Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers from HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York

Abstract: The gateway hypothesis proposes that cannabis use increases the risk of starting to consume hard drugs. We test this controversial, but influential, hypothesis on a sample of cannabis users employing a unique set of drug prices. A flexible approach is developed to identify the causal gateway effect using a bivariate survival model with shared frailty estimated using a latent class approach. The model suggests two distinct groups; a smaller group of “troubled youths” for whom there is a statistically significant gateway effect that doubles the hazard of starting to use hard drugs and a larger fraction of “most youths” where previous cannabis use has little impact.

New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea
Date: 2007-01
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Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:yor:hectdg:07/01

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