title: Cannabis depenalisation, drug consumption and crime - evidence from the 2004 cannabis declassification in the UK.
abstract: This paper investigates the link between cannabis depenalisation and crime using individual-level panel data for England and Wales from 2003 to 2006. We exploit the declassification of cannabis in the UK in 2004 as a natural experiment. Specifically, we use the fact that the declassification changed expected punishments differently in various age groups due to thresholds in British criminal law and employ a difference-in-differences type design using data from the longitudinal version of the Offending, Crime and Justice Survey. Our findings suggest essentially no increases in either cannabis consumption, consumption of other drugs, crime and other forms of risky behaviour.
authors.affiliation: Newcastle University, Business School - Economics, 5 Barrack Road, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 4SE, United Kingdom. Electronic address: nils.braakmann@newcastle.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Nils
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Braakmann
authors.affiliation: Newcastle University, Business School - Economics, 5 Barrack Road, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 4SE, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jones
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002188:Cannabis; D003415:Crime / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003416:Criminal Law / Q000639:trends*; D036262:Empirical Research; D004739:England / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D002189:Marijuana Abuse / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D012309:Risk-Taking; D011049:Social Control Policies / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D014852:Wales / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Anti-social behaviour; Cannabis; Crime; England; Gateway theory; Risky lifestyle; Wales