Measuring State Cannabis Policy Design Variation for Research and Policy: A Bundles Approach

For understanding how cannabis legalization in the American states has affected public health, it is important to consider how policies vary by state. This commentary presents a policy bundles approach to measuring state cannabis policy variation. Measured from 1994 to 2023, three bundles—pharmaceutical, permissive, and fiscal—capture 36 different characteristics of state medical and recreational cannabis laws. The pharmaceutical bundle captures characteristics treating cannabis like a regulated pharmaceutical. The permissive bundle those that treat it like an easily accessed over-the-counter product. Finally, the fiscal bundle captures ways that states raise revenue from cannabis. Furthermore, measures are available capturing either policies as adopted or as implemented, allowing researchers to better link policy effects to actual implementation. The commentary demonstrates the bundle measures using the state of Massachusetts and concludes with future directions for using these publicly available measures for health research.