| dc.description.abstract | Marijuana use, same-sex marriage, and firearm regulations are major societal issues that significantly impact the US health system. While same-sex marriages were legalized throughout the nation by a 2015 Supreme Court ruling, policies regarding guns and marijuana still vary widely among the states. To examine these issues in-depth, this research is designed as a series of three studies utilizing the same econometrics methodology to measure the impact of state-specific policies. A quasi-experimental difference-in-difference approach is used with state-level policy differences to compare the control and treatment states to estimate the effect of each policy (marijuana legalization, same-sex marriage legalization, and firearm regulations) on the dependent variable (number of pediatric poisoning ED visits, number of STI-related ED visits, and number of mass shootings/fatalities/injuries). The first study analyzes the relationship between state marijuana laws and the frequency of pediatric poisoning cases warranting Emergency Department (ED) visits. Data for the ED visits were derived from State Emergency Department Databases (SEDD) and State Inpatient Databases (SID). Study included 16 US states: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin. Of the 16 states, 13 were from SEDD, and 3 states (Arkansas, New Mexico, and Washington) were from SID. Findings suggest that medical marijuana legalization is associated with a 12.2% increase in pediatric poisoning cases, while recreational marijuana legalization results in a 19.9% increase.
The second study assesses the impact of same-sex marriage legalization on sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Data were derived from the State Emergency Department Databases and State Inpatient Databases to determine the number of STI-related ED visits. Study included 16 US states: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin. Of the 16 states, 13 were from SEDD, and 3 states (Arkansas, New Mexico, and Washington) were from SID. The impact of same-sex marriage legalization was examined for both the short term (immediately after legalization) and long term (one year after legalization). Findings suggest that legalization is associated with no significant change in STI-related ED visits in the short term, but a 7.4% decrease in visits in the long term. The third study examines the impact of gun policy on mass shootings, and related fatalities and injuries. For this study, data were derived from the Mass Shooting Tracker. Findings suggest that states that report mentally ill individuals to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) have a 46% decrease in mass shooting incidents. Universal background checks for gun purchases are also strongly associated with reduced harm from mass shootings, resulting in 66% fewer deaths and 46% fewer injuries. | en |
