학술논문

A Spatiotemporal Analysis of the Association of California City and County Cannabis Policies with Cannabis Outlet Densities
Document Type
article
Source
Epidemiology. 33(5)
Subject
Public Health
Health Sciences
Cannabinoid Research
Behavioral and Social Science
Minority Health
Social Determinants of Health
Clinical Research
Health Disparities
Prevention
Bayes Theorem
California
Cannabis
Commerce
Ethnicity
Humans
Minority Groups
Policy
Residence Characteristics
Spatio-Temporal Analysis
Availability
Marijuana
Legalization
Local control
Local ordinances
Local policy
Outlet density
Outlets
Retail
Statistics
Public Health and Health Services
Epidemiology
Public health
Language
Abstract
BackgroundCannabis outlets may affect health and health disparities. Local governments can regulate outlets, but little is known about the effectiveness of local policies in limiting outlet densities and discouraging disproportionate placement of outlets in vulnerable neighborhoods.MethodsFor 241 localities in California, we measured seven policies pertaining to density or location of recreational cannabis outlets. We geocoded outlets using web-scraped data from the online finder Weedmaps between 2018 and 2020. We applied Bayesian spatiotemporal models to evaluate associations of local cannabis policies with Census block group-level outlet counts, accounting for confounders and spatial autocorrelation. We assessed whether associations differed by block group median income or racial-ethnic composition.ResultsSeventy-six percent of localities banned recreational cannabis outlets. Bans were associated with fewer outlets, particularly in block groups with higher median income, fewer Hispanic residents, and more White and Asian residents. Outlets were disproportionately located in block groups with lower median income [posterior RR (95% credible interval): 0.76 (0.70, 0.82) per $10,000], more Hispanic residents [1.05 (1.02, 1.09) per 5%], and fewer Black residents [0.91 (0.83, 0.98) per 5%]. For the six policies in jurisdictions permitting outlets, two policies were associated with fewer outlets and two with more; two policy associations were uninformative. For these policies, we observed no consistent heterogeneity in associations by median income or racial-ethnic composition.ConclusionsSome local cannabis policies in California are associated with lower cannabis outlet densities, but are unlikely to deter disproportionate placement of outlets in racial-ethnic minority and low-income neighborhoods.