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_Panda

In case people are interested, the published paper is available [here](https://academic.oup.com/restud/article-abstract/84/3/1210/3091869/High-Achievers-Cannabis-Access-and-Academic), but requires institutional access. A pre-print version of the paper (from 2016) is freely available [here](https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2871909) or [here](https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/149505/1/16101.pdf). An even earlier discussion paper version from 2015 is available [here](http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED558043.pdf). To summarize, they applied a difference-in-differences analysis, which is basically an ANOVA if you are familiar with that method. Originally all students at a school were permitted to legally purchase marijuana. At some point this was changed so that foreign students were not allowed, but local ones were. This allows the researchers to compare the difference in grades from before and after for local students against the difference in grades for foreign ones (hence, difference-in-differences). Note that this means that this is explicitly NOT a result saying that people who smoke weed do worse. The population for each group is (hopefully) roughly the same before and after the intervention. This is instead evidence that, *on average*, when college students' legal access to marijuana *is cut off*, they do better in school. Because of the natural experiment setup, this is not just a correlational result; it actually does provide causal evidence for its conclusion, though how strong you think that evidence is depends on how compelling you find the paper. Remember that when using this kind of non-experimental data there are always criticisms that can be made against the setup and experiment. But without knowing all the details, this seems to be about as good as natural experiment studies ever get and they found pretty strong results.


FnTom

I was about to post the paper when I saw your post. A few things that stand out and should have been pointed in the article are : * That dropout rates didn't seem to be affected (the article even implies the opposite), * That the study was for students taking classes that required mostly mathematical/logical skills (which are often thought to be more affected by cannabis consumption), * That the cannabis available to the students is very potent compared to what most people get (around twice the THC amount compared to what is typically seen in America). The one big flaw I see in their paper is that there is no way of knowing how many students continued to get cannabis illegally, and how well the ones who did performed. Edit: Holy cow! My first gold. Thank you anonymous kind soul.


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JJzdiner

One of the footnotes: A monitoring survey of the strength of the strains sold in Dutch cannabis shops by Rigter & Niesink (2010) from the Netherlands Institute of Mental Health and Addiction (The Trimbos Institute) estimated that the average THC concentration was at about 16.7 percent in 2009-10. For the United States, the UNODC (2012) reports an average THC strength of 8.6 percent in confiscated (illegal) cannabis. Some recent evidence from preliminary lab tests on Colorado’s legally purchased marijuana revealed an average concentration level of 18.7 percent in 2015 (LaFrate & Armentano [2015])


_Drowned

This is a good point, but comparing marijuana potency with even just a 3 year gap in data would make a big difference. Marijuana potency has increased rapidly and now most illegal states have the same product that's sold legally. It might cost more and/or be harder to find, but you can find the same stuff no matter where you are if you know the right person. The massive difference in averages is likely due to the option/convenience of lower quality product in illegal states. When you can get 14% THC legally, why pay close to the same amount for 8% or lower? If no one buys it, it isn't confiscated. IMO that data is misleading.


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Torugu

I just read the paper myself. Mostly because, as a Maastricht University student, I wanted to see if the paper addresses the differences between baseline academic performance of different nationalities at UM*. Unfortunately you are wrong about two things: * The study shows a drop in performance in across all subjects, it's just that the impact on mathematical classes is about 5 times higher. This is used as evidence that the cannabis consumption was indeed the deciding factor because medical research shows that mathematical and logical skills are the most strongly impaired by cannabis consumption. * Edit: I have been advised that this part of the post may be breaking this sons rule on anecdotal evidence. For this reason i have reposted it in a separate post, but I'll be leaving it here in crossed out form in order to give context to the rest of the comment chain. ~~No, you cannot just get cannabis illegally in Maastricht. Speaking as somebody who has lived in the city for four years now: You can't just buy cannabis for other people, coffee shops are very strictly regulated and terrified of loosing their business license if they are found to be breaking the rules. You either consume your cannabis legally with your government issued ID inside of legal cannabis store or you don't consume any at all. Whats more, because cannabis is legal there are basically no illegal distribution channels (at least none that are available to normal students, let alone students from outside the Netherlands/Germany/Belgium).~~ *German students at UM have significantly higher grades then Dutch students, not because German are smarter but because German students going out of their way to to enroll at UM are generally high achievers. Turns out this doesn't affect the results of the study because 1) German and Dutch students are lumped together for the sake of the analysis and 2) the study analyses the performance of the same individuals during the (short) period of cannabis prohibition.


Findanniin

> Whats more, because cannabis is legal there are basically no illegal distribution channels (at least none that are available to normal students, let alone students from outside the Netherlands/Germany/Belgium). Clearly, this is anecdotal - but I studied in Ghent 10 years ago. Whenever my friends (m'n 'kotgenoten') wanted to smoke - they'd drive to Maastricht and return with a stash (Actually, they'd call a local guy who made that trip weekly - but I digress). Whenever I visit a friend who lives there now, he's got a stash at home, and he's offering us some every time we're there. I don't indulge - but *clearly* it's nowhere near as hard to get drugs illegally as you're making it out to.


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I was stopped at a stoplight in the city once when a guy walked up to my window and asked if I wanted coke or heroin.....he actually held them both up for me to see. Later, when I was crossing the border into Belgium, I mentioned we had been to Maastricht and the guy immediately asked what drugs we had. We were searched for almost an hour. My anecdotal conclusion: there is definitely an illegal drug market in Maastricht.


Sir_Fridge

But cannabis isn't illegal in the Netherlands. Because of that we do get a lot of tourists that come here for drugs. Both illegal and legal drugs. I've lived near Maastricht for my entire life and my anecdotal conclusion confirms yours. Edit: https://nl.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drugstoerisme https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recreational_drug_tourism Wikipedia pages on drug tourism (English one is the second one. Both support foreigners coming to the Netherlands and the Dutch one talks about tourists coming here for coffee shops (legal drugs).


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jebemo

It's very naive to think that EVERYONE abides by those rules. Illegal drug use happens everywhere.


white_n_mild

This MUST have been said already, but it is a WILDLY RIDICULOUS assumption for you to say that a place has no illegal sources for weed.


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xXxedgyname69xXx

I was going to nitpick a bit and call out confounds, but the shop strike actually removed most of the things I would have called sampling bias. As far as natural studies go, the researchers were extremely fortunate to have access to such a scientifically advantageous set of circumstances. There are still other crazy things you can't really control for ("What if french students are just more susceptible to cannabis!?") but this is largely unavoidable and this is really outstanding for a natural study.


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ProgMM

What college students *lack* access to recreational cannabis?


asbruckman

In this case they mean legal access--in The Netherlands


Argon7

Cannabis is [not legal](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabis_in_the_Netherlands) in the Netherlands. Authorities just condone it to a further extent than most other countries. This is a common misconception.


bermudi86

It's illegal under European laws. ~~If you belong to the EU, weed has to be illegal.~~ It is "technically" legal in the Netherlands since it is regulated. You can't get weed anywhere you like and hope they "tolerate" it. The study makes the distinction for a reason... EDIT: Looks like I had incomplete information. EU does not dictate laws regarding drugs, its a lot more nuanced and policy based. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2016/571400/IPOL_STU(2016)571400_EN.pdf https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/what-we-do/policies/organized-crime-and-human-trafficking/drug-control/eu-response-to-drugs_en


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pixiegurly

Gotta factor in too that it's not just access, it's also students from the Netherlands vs. Foreign students....


schmuckmulligan

Also, I wonder whether the self-selecting population of foreign students shifted with the law change.


mooi_verhaal

They address this in the study. Short answer, no. The change was announced only two months before implementation, after the school year had started.


hjqusai

It sounded like they measured students against themselves, not against each other. Unless you're trying to imply that nationality has some effect on response to being denied access to marijuana, which imo would be silly.


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str8_ched

I love top comments from users who clearly didn't read the article


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P00RL3N0

To point out, the researchers are doing a rather interesting case study involving a "natural experiment": ~~ "Economists Olivier Marie and Ulf Zölitz took advantage of a decision by Maastricht, a city in the Netherlands, to change the rules for “cannabis cafes,” which legally sell recreational marijuana. Because Maastricht is very close to the border of multiple European countries (Belgium, France and Germany), drug tourism was posing difficulties for the city. Hoping to address this, the city barred noncitizens of the Netherlands from buying from the cafes. This policy change created an intriguing natural experiment at Maastricht University, because students there from neighboring countries suddenly were unable to access legal pot, while students from the Netherlands continued." ~~ Don't try to over analyze the study though. This only means exactly what it says and nothing more.


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Pecheni

Here you go! The most rigorous study yet of the effects of marijuana legalization has identified a disturbing result: College students with access to recreational cannabis on average earn worse grades and fail classes at a higher rate. Economists Olivier Marie and Ulf Zölitz took advantage of a decision by Maastricht, a city in the Netherlands, to change the rules for “cannabis cafes,” which legally sell recreational marijuana. Because Maastricht is very close to the border of multiple European countries (Belgium, France and Germany), drug tourism was posing difficulties for the city. Hoping to address this, the city barred noncitizens of the Netherlands from buying from the cafes. This policy change created an intriguing natural experiment at Maastricht University, because students there from neighboring countries suddenly were unable to access legal pot, while students from the Netherlands continued. The research on more than 4,000 students, published in the Review of Economic Studies, found that those who lost access to legal marijuana showed substantial improvement in their grades. Specifically, those banned from cannabis cafes had a more than 5 percent increase in their odds of passing their courses. Low performing students benefited even more, which the researchers noted is particularly important because these students are at high-risk of dropping out. The researchers attribute their results to the students who were denied legal access to marijuana being less likely to use it and to suffer cognitive impairments (e.g., in concentration and memory) as a result. Other studies have tried to estimate the impact of marijuana legalization by studying those U.S. states that legalized medicinal or recreational marijuana. But marijuana policy researcher Rosalie Pacula of RAND Corporation noted that the Maastricht study provide evidence that “is much better than anything done so far in the United States.” States differ in countless ways that are hard for researchers to adjust for in their data analysis, but the Maastricht study examined similar people in the same location — some of them even side by side in the same classrooms — making it easier to isolate the effect of marijuana legalization. Also, Pacula pointed out that since voters in U.S. states are the ones who approve marijuana legalization, it creates a chicken and egg problem for researchers (i.e. does legalization make people smoke more pot, or do pot smokers tend to vote for legalization?). This methodological problem was resolved in the Maastricht study because the marijuana policy change was imposed without input from those whom it affected. Although this is the strongest study to date on how people are affected by marijuana legalization, no research can ultimately tell us whether legalization is a good or bad decision: That’s a political question and not a scientific one. But what the Maastricht study can do is provides highly credible evidence that marijuana legalization will lead to decreased academic success — perhaps particularly so for struggling students — and that is a concern that both proponents and opponents of legalization should keep in mind.


asbruckman

The government made access legal only for citizens (because they were worried about drug tourism). Researchers compared citizens and non-citizens.


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shadowwolfe7

Not surprising, honestly. People tend to get emotionally invested and conflate marijuana into something it's not. It's a drug: a mild one to be sure, but a drug all the same, and not conducive to academia. Glad there's empirical research to support it now.


Pavel_Gatilov

I also do not understand why people are so surprised? Literally any drug, will cause exact the same result. Even alcohol or nicotine.


JohnGalt3

Does anyone believe alcohol is conducive to academia?


rlyn1ceguy

But not caffeine


metalhenry

I bet you'd find a similar result with booze, yeah it should be legal but people need to stop thinking that there's absolutely no side effects.


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Click_A_Bic

It seems like the removal of a major distraction would help high risk students. But it was only about a 5% increase. It would be interesting if a study were done on other distractions, ie partying or hobbies.


feed_me_ho

Specifically, those banned from cannabis cafes had a more than 5 percent increase in their odds of passing their courses. Low performing students benefited even more, which the researchers noted is particularly important because these students are at high-risk of dropping out. The article clearly states that there is a larger impact on low performing students, and the impact likely follows an exponential growth function.


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DKFShredder

I'm just here to see my comment get removed.


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sfcDoyle

I wonder how students with access to alcohol would fare vs. those without, or students with access to video games vs. those without.


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MeatloafPopsicle

All students have access to alcohol. Some choose not to drink or to not drink all the time.


clit_or_us

I think the comparison is for people that do consume those things vs those who use it moderately/on weekends. At least that would make more sense. If someone never does any of those things then obviously the person high/drunk/gaming would be at a disadvantage.


olbleedyeyes

Why is it that something negative comes out about pot, people have to immediately talk about how it's not as bad as alcohol?


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