Fighting abuse with prescription tracking: mandatory drug monitoring and intimate partner violence

Dhaval Dave (), Bilge Erten, David Hummel (), Pinar Keskin () and Shuo Zhang ()
Additional contact information
Dhaval Dave: Bentley University
David Hummel: Northeastern University
Pinar Keskin: Wellesley College
Shuo Zhang: Northeastern University

Journal of Population Economics, 2025, vol. 38, issue 3, No 6, 27 pages

Abstract: Abstract The opioid crisis generates broader societal harms beyond direct health and economic effects, impacting non-users through adverse spillovers on children, families, and communities. We study the spillover effects of a supply-side policy aimed at reducing overprescription of opioids on women’s well-being by examining its effects on intimate partner violence (IPV) in the United States. Using administrative data on incidents reported to law enforcement, in conjunction with quasi-experimental variation in the adoption of stringent mandatory-access prescription drug monitoring programs, we find that these policies generate a downstream benefit for women by significantly reducing their overall exposure to IPV and IPV-involved injuries by 9 to 10%. The strongest effects are experienced by groups with higher rates of opioid consumption at baseline, including non-Hispanic Whites. Our findings also show a significant increase in heroin-involved IPV incidents, suggesting substitution into illicit drug consumption. However, since heroin-related IPV accounts for less than 1% of all incidents, its increase among highly opioid-dependent individuals does not offset the overall decline in total IPV incidents in affected states. Our results highlight the need to identify high-risk groups prone to switching to illicit opioids and to address this risk through evidence-based policies.

Keywords: Prescription monitoring; Opioid misuse; Intimate partner violence; Domestic abuse; Health policy; United States (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I18 J12 J16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s00148-025-01111-5 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
Working Paper: Fighting Abuse with Prescription Tracking: Mandatory Drug Monitoring and Intimate Partner Violence (2024)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:jopoec:v:38:y:2025:i:3:d:10.1007_s00148-025-01111-5

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... tion/journal/148/PS2

DOI: 10.1007/s00148-025-01111-5

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Population Economics is currently edited by K.F. Zimmermann

More articles in Journal of Population Economics from Springer, European Society for Population Economics Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().