Academic Journal
Cannabis legalization and law enforcement drug seizures: a state-level analysis of cannabis policy effects on cannabis seizures in the United States, 2010-2023.
| Τίτλος: | Cannabis legalization and law enforcement drug seizures: a state-level analysis of cannabis policy effects on cannabis seizures in the United States, 2010-2023. |
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| Συγγραφείς: | Fitzgerald ND; Department of Epidemiology, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, NY, USA. Electronic address: ndf2116@cumc.columbia.edu., Palamar JJ; Department of Population Health, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA., Cadet K; Department of Epidemiology, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, NY, USA; Department of Emergency Medicine, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY, USA., Rowan E; Department of Epidemiology, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, NY, USA., Bruzelius E; Department of Epidemiology, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, NY, USA., Martins SS; Department of Epidemiology, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, NY, USA. |
| Πηγή: | The International journal on drug policy [Int J Drug Policy] 2026 May; Vol. 151, pp. 105217. Date of Electronic Publication: 2026 Mar 10. |
| Τύπος έκδοσης: | Journal Article |
| Γλώσσα: | English |
| Στοιχεία περιοδικού: | Publisher: Elsevier Country of Publication: Netherlands NLM ID: 9014759 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1873-4758 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 09553959 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Int J Drug Policy Subsets: MEDLINE |
| Imprint Name(s): | Publication: 1998- : Amsterdam ; New York : Elsevier Original Publication: Liverpool, England : International Journal on Drug Policy |
| Ιατρικοί όροι (MeSH): | Drug Trafficking*/legislation & jurisprudence , Drug Trafficking*/statistics & numerical data , Marijuana Use*/legislation & jurisprudence , Legislation, Drug* , Law Enforcement* , Cannabis* , Medical Marijuana*, Drug and Narcotic Control/legislation & jurisprudence ; United States ; Humans |
| Περίληψη: | Background: In the US, 40 states and the District of Columbia (DC) have implemented medical cannabis legalization (MCL), while 24 states and DC have enacted some form of recreational cannabis legalization (RCL). We examined the association between cannabis legalization and law enforcement cannabis seizures to understand illegal drug market responses to increasing state cannabis legalization. Methods: Data on law enforcement cannabis seizures came from the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) program. We tested the association between state-level RCL and MCL adoption and annual changes in cannabis seizures aggregated by state-year from 2010 to 2023 using a series of Poisson regression models that controlled for time-varying state demographic and law enforcement variables in addition to state and year fixed effects. To account for potential lag time between MCL/RCL effective dates and policy impacts on seizures, we conducted additional analyses with 1-year MCL/RCL lags. Results: Over the study period, there were 286,844 cannabis seizures by HIDTA-affiliated agencies, with 686 state-years of observation. In primary adjusted models, RCL adoption was associated with a significant decrease in cannabis seizures in MCL & RCL states versus MCL-only states, both immediately following RCL adoption (exp(β)=0.55, 95% CI: 0.54, 0.56) and one year after RCL went into effect (exp(β) for 1-year lag=0.62, 95% CI: 0.61, 0.64). Conclusions: The adoption of RCLs in US states, beyond only MCLs, may help to reduce the size of illegal cannabis markets, or there may be shifting law enforcement seizure priorities in those states. (Copyright © 2026 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.) |
| Competing Interests: | Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Joseph Palamar reports a relationship with Washington Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area that includes: consulting or advisory. Given his role as Associate Editor, Joseph Palamar had no involvement in the peer review of this article and had no access to information regarding its peer review. Full responsibility for the editorial process for this article was delegated to another journal editor. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. |
| Grant Information: | R01 DA045872 United States DA NIDA NIH HHS; R01 DA057289 United States DA NIDA NIH HHS; T32 DA031099 United States DA NIDA NIH HHS; U01 DA051126 United States DA NIDA NIH HHS |
| Contributed Indexing: | Keywords: Cannabis seizures; Illegal drug markets; Law enforcement; Medical cannabis legalization; Recreational cannabis legalization |
| Substance Nomenclature: | 0 (Medical Marijuana) |
| Entry Date(s): | Date Created: 20260311 Date Completed: 20260710 Latest Revision: 20260710 |
| Update Code: | 20260711 |
| PubMed Central ID: | PMC13169379 |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.drugpo.2026.105217 |
| PMID: | 41813461 |
| Βάση Δεδομένων: | MEDLINE |
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