Supply-side drug policy, polydrug use, and the economic effects of withdrawal symptoms

Alexander Ahammer and Analisa Packham

No 2024-07, Economics working papers from Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria

Abstract: Despite the fact that 30 percent of opioid overdoses also involve a benzodiazepine, there is little policy guidance on how to curb concurrent misuse and even less evidence on how changes to co-prescribing practices can affect patients’ economic trajectories. In 2012, Austria restricted access to flunitrazepam, one of the most potent, and most heavily misused, benzodiazepines. We use linked individual-level data to identify opioid users and estimate the reform's impact on their health and labor market outcomes relative to a randomly selected comparison group of non-opioid users. Estimates indicate a 12.7 percent drop in employment, a 13.1 percent increase in unemployment insurance claims, and a 26.5 percent increase in overall healthcare expenditures. We provide suggestive evidence that these effects are due to incapacitating withdrawal symptoms, rather than substitution to other drugs, including heroin or alcohol.

Keywords: opioids; substance use disorder treatment; benzodiazepines (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I12 I38 J18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lab
Note: English
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Related works:
Working Paper: Supply-Side Drug Policy, Polydrug Use, and the Economic Effects of Withdrawal Symptoms (2024)
Working Paper: Supply-Side Drug Policy, Polydrug Use, and the Economic Effects of Withdrawal Symptoms (2024)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:jku:econwp:2024-07

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