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

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.