Publication at First Faculty of Medicine |
2015
Abstract
This paper examines the effect of a change in drugs policy on the age of onset of cannabis use. We use 2012 survey data from the Czech Republic where in 2010 a law was introduced decriminalizing personal possession of small quantities of several illicit drugs, including cannabis.
We estimate the effect of the policy change using a mixed proportional hazards framework that models the starting rate of cannabis use, i.e. the transition to first cannabis use. We find that the decriminalization of cannabis did not affect the age of onset of cannabis use.