Alcohol and marijuana use among college students: economic complements or substitutes?

B-Tier
Journal: Health Economics
Year: 2004
Volume: 13
Issue: 9
Pages: 825-843

Authors (4)

Score contribution per author:

0.503 = (α=2.01 / 4 authors) × 1.0x B-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

Previous research has shown that the recent tightening of college alcohol policies has been effective at reducing college students' drinking. Over the period in which these stricter alcohol policies have been put in place, marijuana use among college students has increased. This raises the question of whether current policies aimed at reducing alcohol consumption are inadvertently encouraging marijuana use. This paper begins to address this question by investigating the relationship between the demands for alcohol and marijuana for college students using data from the 1993, 1997 and 1999 waves of the Harvard School of Public Health's College Alcohol Study (CAS). We find that alcohol and marijuana are economic complements and that policies that increase the full price of alcohol decrease participation in marijuana use. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:wly:hlthec:v:13:y:2004:i:9:p:825-843
Journal Field
Health
Author Count
4
Added to Database
2026-01-25