Impact of State Medical Marijuana Law on Social Security and Workers' Compensation
Marijuana legalization and disability claiming

    
    
  



  
        
  
    
        
  
      
      
      
                  
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        Working Paper 23862
  

        DOI 10.3386/w23862
  

        Issue Date September 2017

  

                Revision Date August 2020

  

          
  
    
We study the effect of recent legalization of recreational marijuana use (RMLs) in the United States on Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income claiming, proxied by new applications and new benedficiaries, over the period 2001 to 2019. We combine administrative caseload data from the Social Security Administration with state policy changes using two-way fixed effects regression. We find that RML adoption increases new disability application rates. However, there is no change in new beneficiaries post-RML. We provide suggestive evidence that the observed changes in applications post-RML are potentially driven by increases in marijuana misuse and selective migration.

  
  


  

  







  
  
        

  


  




  