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Autor:innen: 
Erscheinungsjahr: 
2019
Schriftenreihe/Nr.: 
Working Paper No. 1911
Verlag: 
Johannes Kepler University of Linz, Department of Economics, Linz
Zusammenfassung: 
In the United States, 115 people die each day due to overdose, and a third of overdoses involve the concurrent use of opioids and a class of sedatives called benzodiazepines. Facing a similar problem in 2012, Austria responded by installing public health ocers (PHOs) as third-party institutions overseeing prescriptions of the most potent and commonly abused benzodiazepine,flunitrazepam. Since December 15, 2012, every single flunitrazepam prescription must be authorized and countersigned by a PHO, prescriptions were restricted to a month's supply of the drug, and doses must be dispensed daily, under supervision, in a pharmacy. I identify a sample of opioids addicts in administrative social security data and study their response to this reform. Event studies suggest a persistent decline in flunitrazepam prescriptions but substitution to less potent benzodiazepines following the reform. To examine subsequent health, labor market, and drug abuse-related outcomes, I additionally exploit regional variation in PHO strictness affecting the likelihood that addicts opt to quit the drug due to the reform. I find that addicts who quit after encountering a strict PHO have better health and labor market outcomes, have fewer opioid overdoses, and are less likely to take antidepressants or weak opioids. I discuss how these findings translate to the US setting, and whether a similar policy can help curb its opioid epidemic.
Schlagwörter: 
Opioid epidemic
addictive drugs
supply-control
prescription regulations
JEL: 
I18
I12
H12
Dokumentart: 
Working Paper

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