title: Is Mississippi's prescription-only precursor control law a prescription to decrease the production and raise the price of methamphetamine?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In 2010, Mississippi became the second state to require a prescription to purchase pseudoephedrine-based medications. Proponents of "prescription-only" laws argue that they are necessary to disrupt methamphetamine markets, but critics note the costs to legal consumers of cold medications may offset some of the laws' intended benefits.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We evaluated the effect of prescription-only restrictions for methamphetamine precursors on state-level methamphetamine lab seizures and methamphetamine prices.
  
  
  METHODS
  We used a synthetic control approach to create a control state comparable to Mississippi and then used permutation testing to determine if the resulting difference was statistically significant.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found that Mississippi's prescription-only law removed 2637 small methamphetamine labs in the two years after the law became effective, which represents a 77% reduction in small labs relative to the synthetic counterfactual. We found no evidence that the law impacted methamphetamine prices.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We conclude that while prescription-only laws can reduce the number of domestic small methamphetamine labs in operation, methamphetamine availability is unlikely to be materially impacted.
authors.affiliation: Department of Economics, Baylor University, Waco, TX, United States.
authors.forename: Scott
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cunningham
authors.affiliation: Department of Economics, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, United States.
authors.forename: Keith
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Finlay
authors.affiliation: Department of Global Health Systems and Development, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, LA, United States. Electronic address: cfstoecker@tulane.edu.
authors.forename: Charles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Stoecker
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000697:Central Nervous System Stimulants / Q000191:economics; D016208:Databases, Factual; D016527:Drug Costs; D011307:Drug Prescriptions; D064423:Drug Trafficking / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007880:Legislation, Drug / Q000639:trends*; D008297:Male; D008694:Methamphetamine / Q000191:economics; D008875:Middle Aged; D008922:Mississippi; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000191:economics / Q000517:prevention & control*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000697:Central Nervous System Stimulants; D008694:Methamphetamine
keywords: Demand; Illegal drugs; Methamphetamine laboratories; Synthetic control