Table 1.

OLS: Relationship between the fraction of BCI crime lab tests containing MA and unintentional overdose death rates per 100,000, 2015–2021.

	All Counties	Small	Medium	Large
	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)
MA no Synthetic Opioids	-0.0893	-0.0630	0.0591	-0.4764*
	(0.1599)	(0.2227)	(0.3852)	(0.2422)
MA and Synthetic Opioids	1.0697	1.2847	0.5027	0.3534
	(1.0566)	(1.6519)	(1.1676)	(0.6431)
Synthetic Opioids no MA	1.5451***	1.0764**	1.8711**	1.9837***
	(0.3402)	(0.4994)	(0.7798)	(0.6016)
R-Squared	0.25	0.18	0.37	0.49
Observations	7047	3159	1782	2106

Notes: Robust standard errors, clustered at the county level, are reported in parentheses. The estimates control for the fraction of monthly positive tests of cocaine, heroin, prescription opioids, synthetic cannibinoids, non-meth synthetic stimulants, PCP and PCP variants, psychedelics, barbiturates, and other designer drugs (each as a separate variable). See Appendix A for detailed definitions of drug categories. Other county-month controls: unemployment rate, COVID 19 case counts, hospitalizations, and deaths. County-quarter controls: per capita MME of prescription opioids, per capita mg of prescription buprenorphine. Estimates also include month and county fixed effects. Each observation is at the county-month level from 2015 through the 3rd quarter of 2021. Small Counties: population 50,000 or less. Medium Counties: population between 50,000 and 100,000. Large Counties: population more than 100,000. (* p<0.1, ** p<0.05, *** p<0.01).