Supply-Side Drug Policy in the Presence of Substitutes: Evidence from the Introduction of Abuse-Deterrent Opioids

Abby Alpert, David Powell and Rosalie Pacula

American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 2018, vol. 10, issue 4, 1-35

Abstract: Overdose deaths from prescription opioid pain relievers nearly quadrupled between 1999 and 2010. We study the consequences of one of the largest supply disruptions to date to abusable opioids—the introduction of an abuse-deterrent version of OxyContin in 2010. Supply-side interventions which limit access to opioids may have the unintended consequence of increasing use of substitute drugs, including heroin. Exploiting cross-state variation in OxyContin exposure, we find that states with the highest initial rates of OxyContin misuse experienced the largest increases in heroin deaths. Our results imply that the recent heroin epidemic is largely due to the reformulation of OxyContin.

JEL-codes: I12 I18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
Note: DOI: 10.1257/pol.20170082
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (103)

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Working Paper: Supply-Side Drug Policy in the Presence of Substitutes: Evidence from the Introduction of Abuse-Deterrent Opioids (2017)
Working Paper: Supply-Side Drug Policy in the Presence of Substitutes Evidence from the Introduction of Abuse-Deterrent Opioids (2017)
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