The Effect of Medical Marijuana Laws on Body Weight

Abstract

This study is the first to examine the effects of medical marijuana laws (MMLs) on body weight, physical wellness, and exercise. Using data from the 1990 to 2012 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System and a difference-in-difference approach, we find that the enforcement of MMLs is associated with a 2% to 6% decline in the probability of obesity. We find some evidence of age-specific heterogeneity in mechanisms. For older individuals, MML-induced increases in physical mobility may be a relatively important channel, while for younger individuals, a reduction in consumption of alcohol, a substitute for marijuana, appears more important. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that MMLs may be more likely to induce marijuana use for health-related reasons among older individuals, and cause substitution toward lower-calorie recreational 'highs' among younger individuals. Our estimates suggest that MMLs induce a $58 to $115 per-person annual reduction in obesity-related medical costs. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Marijuana legalization and disability claiming

“…29 states and the District of Columbia have implemented an MML. Common health conditions that qualify patients for legal use of marijuana include cachexia, cancer, epilepsy, HIV/AIDS, muscle spasms, multiple sclerosis, and non-specific pain (Bradford & Bradford, 2016;Sabia, Swigert, & Young, 2017). Many of these conditions overlap with conditions that qualify a worker for SSDI and WC benefits, offering premise for our study.…”

“…We leverage law effective dates collected by Sabia and Nguyen (2016) in our study. 14 These laws offer the variation with which we identify treatment effects in our differences-indifferences models (outlined later in the manuscript).…”

“…Anderson, Hansen, and Rees (2013) show that, following passage of an MML, fatal traffic accidents decline 8% to 11%, with larger effects for accidents that do not involve alcohol. Subsequent analyses offer mixed evidence on the effect of MML passage on alcohol use: Wen et al (2015) find that measures of alcohol misuse increase post-MML while Sabia et al (2017) document that alcohol misuse decreases. Chu (2015) examines the effect of MML on the use of cocaine and heroin, and finds that drug possession arrests and admissions to substance abuse treatment related to these substances fall post-MML.…”

Theoretical Explanation for Reduced Body Mass Index and Obesity Rates in <em>Cannabis</em> Users

“…Both the BMI data and the AOR data show significantly lower BMI or rates of overweight or obesity in Cannabis users (BMI: paired t-test P < 0.001; OR 95% CI = 0.53 -0.84) (tables 1 and 2). Further evidence comes from the recent observation that legalization of medical Cannabis at the state level is associated with a rapid decrease in statewide obesity rates (Sabia et al, 2017), and that obese rats exposed to Cannabis extract show reduced rates of weight gain (Levendal et al, 2012). Indeed, the inverse relationship between obesity and Cannabis use led Le Foll et al (Le Foll et al, 2013) to propose Cannabis as a possible therapeutic option for weight loss, and evidence accumulated since then has only strengthened the association.…”

“…Pagotta et al (Pagotto et al, 2006) suggested that the sedative effects of high doses of Cannabis could reduce food consumption, but Rajavashiseth et al (Rajavashisth et al, 2012) observed detectable effects on BMI at usage rates of four times or less per month (25% of non-users were obese, whereas 16% of people who used Cannabis 1 -4 times/month were obese, P < 0.001). Sabia et al (Sabia et al, 2017) suggested that reduced alcohol use by younger users, and increased physical activity of older users upon initiating medical marijuana use, may be responsible for the observed decrease in BMI. These explanations obviously do not account for increased caloric intake in Cannabis users.…”