. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2015 Jan 29.

Published in final edited form as: Public Health Rev. 2014;35(2):1–18. doi: 10.1007/BF03391701

Table 2.

Findings from the Literature of the Effects of Price on Regular (Past Month) Use

Policy	Summary Estimates	Studies	Age of sample
Monetary price	−1.01 to −1.51 (full demand elasticity); −0.7 to −1.0 (30 day participation elasticity).	Nisbet and Vakil (1972)	College students – own sample
	−0.24 (30 day participation elasticity)	Williams et al (2004)	College students – Harvard College Alcohol Study (HCAS)
	−0.26 (30 day participation elasticity)	Williams et al (2006)	College students - HCAS
	−.40 ( full demand elasticity)	Clements and Zhao (2009)	Full population
	−0.28 – 0.31 (30 day participation elasticity)	Gallet (2013)	Mixed populations
Decriminalization	No effect on prevalence or frequency of use	Thies & Register (1993) ; Pacula (1998)	NLSY79 Young adults (ages 19-30)
Decriminalization	Past month use participation elasticity: 0.07-0.09.	Saffer and Chaloupka (1999).	1988, 1990, 1991 NHSDA (includes illicit drug prices)
Penalties	−0.008 effect of median fine on thirty day use. No effect on frequency of use	Farrelly et al (1999) *controls for enforcement too	1991-1994, 1996 NSDUH (ages 21 to 30)
Penalties	Median fine insignificant	Williams et al (2004)	College students – HCAS
Enforcement	Crime per officer ratio positive and significant (elasticity not specified)	Pacula (1998)	NLSY79 (young adults ages 19-26)
Enforcement	Past month participation elasticity for MJ arrests to users: −0.157 to −0.176	Farrelly et al (1999) *Monetary price included	1991-1994, 1996 NHSDA (ages 21 to 30)