@article{ref1,
title="Cannabis legalization and traffic injuries: exploring the role of supply mechanisms",
journal="Addiction",
year="2022",
author="Kilmer, Beau and Rivera-Aguirre, Ariadne and Queirolo, Rosario and Ramirez, Jessica and Cerdá, Magdalena",
volume="ePub",
number="ePub",
pages="ePub-ePub",
abstract="BACKGROUND AND AIM: In Uruguay, residents aged 18 and older seeking legal cannabis must register with the government and choose one of three supply mechanisms: self-cultivation, non-profit cannabis clubs, or pharmacies. This is the first paper to measure the association between type of legal cannabis supply mechanism and traffic crashes involving injuries. <br><br>DESIGN: Ecological study using ordinary least squares regression to examine how department-level variation in registrations (overall and by type) is associated with traffic crashes involving injuries. SETTING: Uruguay. CASES: 532 department-quarters. MEASUREMENTS: Quarterly cannabis registration counts at the department level and incident-level traffic crash data were obtained from government agencies. The analyses controlled for department-level economic and demographic characteristics and, as a robustness check, we included traffic violations involving alcohol for departments reporting this information. Department-level data on crashes, registrations, and alcohol violations were denominated by the number of residents aged 18 and older. <br><br>FINDINGS: From 2013-2019, the average number of registrations at the department-quarter level per 10,000 residents aged 18 and older for self-cultivation, club membership, and pharmacy purchasing were 17.7 (standard deviaiton [sd]=16.8), 3.6 (sd=8.6), and 25.1 (sd=50.4), respectively. In our multivariate regression analyses, we did not find a statistically significant association between the total number of registrations and traffic crashes with injuries (β=-0.007; p=0.398; 95% confidence interval [CI]=-.023,.01). Analyses focused on the specific supply mechanisms found a consistent, positive, and statistically significant association between the number of individuals registered as self-cultivators and the number of traffic crashes with injuries (β=0.194; p=0.008; 95% CI=.058,.329). Associations for other supply mechanisms were inconsistent across the various model specifications. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: In Uruguay, the number of people allowed to self-cultivate cannabis is positively associated with traffic crashes involving injuries. Individual-level analyses are needed to assess better the factors underlying this association.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0965-2140",
doi="10.1111/add.15840",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/add.15840"
}