title: Cannabis use when it's legal.
abstract: This paper addresses the question of whether alcohol and tobacco are "gateways" for cannabis use. To investigate this the relationships between the starting rates in the use of alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis are analyzed. The starting rate for cannabis use appears to be higher for smokers and lower for users of alcohol. Indeed, tobacco use seems to be a gateway for cannabis use. The main policy conclusion is that measures that reduce smoking will also reduce the incidence of cannabis use.
authors.affiliation: Department of Economics, Tilburg University, PO Box 90153, NL-5000 LE Tilburg, The Netherlands. vanours@uvt.nl
authors.forename: Jan C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: van Ours
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D013287:Illicit Drugs; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D002189:Marijuana Abuse / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D008960:Models, Psychological; D015995:Prevalence; D014029:Tobacco Use Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology*
chemical_list: D013287:Illicit Drugs