Cannabis use and mental health problems

Citation
C. Van Ours, Jan et Williams, Jenny, Cannabis use and mental health problems, Journal of applied econometrics , 26(7), 2011, pp. 1137-1156
ISSN journal
08837252
Volume
26
Issue
7
Year of publication
2011
Pages
1137 - 1156
Database
ACNP
SICI code
Abstract
This paper investigates whether cannabis use leads to worse mental health. To do so, we account for common unobserved factors affecting mental health and cannabis consumption by modeling mental health jointly with the dynamics of cannabis use. Our main finding is that using cannabis increases the likelihood of mental health problems, with current use having a larger effect than past use. The estimates suggest a dose-response relationship between the frequency of recent cannabis use and the probability of currently experiencing a mental health problem.