Long-term effects of minimum legal drinking age laws on marijuana and other illicit drug use in adulthood

Abstract

Background Exposure to permissive minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) laws (ability to purchase alcohol <21 years) during adolescence can have long-term effects, including heavy alcohol use or alcohol use disorders as adults. We examined whether exposure to permissive MLDA laws during adolescence has long-term effects on illicit drug use and disorders in adulthood. Methods Participants from the 2004-2012 National Survey of Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) were linked with historical state MLDA laws. Participants born in 1949-1972 (age 31-63 years at observation, n=110,300) were analyzed because they came of legal age for alcohol purchase when changes occurred in state MLDA laws. Logistic regression was used to model drug use measures as a function of exposure to permissive MLDA during adolescence, adjusting for state and birth-year fixed effects, demographics, and salient state characteristics. Results Rates of past month use, past year use, and abuse/dependence of marijuana were 4.7%, 7.8%, and 1.2% respectively. Rates of past month use, past year use, and abuse/dependence of illicit drugs other than marijuana were 2.9%, 6.2%, and 0.7%, respectively. Among the full sample, exposure to permissive MLDA laws was not significantly associated with drug use or abuse/dependence in adulthood. Men exposed to permissive MLDA laws were at 20% increased odds of past year illicit drug use (aOR 1.20, 95% CI 1.09-1.32). Conclusions Restricting alcohol access during adolescence did not increase long-term drug use. Allowing the purchase of alcohol among those less than 21 years of age could increase the risk of drug use later in life.

The Impact of the Minimum Legal Drinking Age on Alcohol‐Related Chronic Disease Mortality

“…Furthermore, the rate of misclassification is much lower than the rate of emigration as individuals may move to states with the same MLDA and thus migrate without changing their policy exposure. Elsewhere, using population migration data, we have estimated that misclassification to be approximately 11% (Krauss et al., ).…”

“…First, MLDA exposure is determined by a person's year of birth and state of residence between the ages of 18 to 21, but it is not possible to directly observe this from mortality data. Instead, we must rely on subject's state of residence at time of observation as a proxy (Krauss et al., ; Norberg et al., ; Plunk et al., , ). To determine whether this is a reasonable way to estimate policy exposure, we conduct a separate set of analyses on “likely nonmovers.” This subset of the study sample resided in their birth state at time of observation and are much less likely to have ever migrated between states.…”

Alcohol and cannabis use among college students: Substitutes or complements?

“…The ambivalence of the evidence—including studies that indicate asymmetrical, limited, or non-existent associations between alcohol use and other drug consumption (Krauss, Cavazos-Rehg, Agrawal, Bierut, & Grucza, 2015; Petry, 2001; White et al, 2015)—calls for further research using different methodologies to understand these relations. Examining these hypotheses at the individual level represents such an advance in our understanding.…”

Examining the Intended and Unintended Impacts of Raising a Minimum Legal Drinking Age on Primary and Secondary Societal Harm and Violence from a Contextual Policy Perspective: A Scoping Review

“…Thirty-five studies were found which reported information (37 units of information) on the impacts of an increase in an MLDA on primary societal impacts (i.e., drinking, possession and purchasing patterns of alcohol) [ 44 , 45 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 , 71 , 72 , 73 , 74 , 75 , 76 , 77 , 78 , 79 , 80 , 81 ]. Thirty-seven units of information were found, since 2 of the 35 studies reported information on multiple types of primary societal impacts, finding significant/relevant impacts in some cases and finding no impact in others.…”