On aging cannabis users: a welfare economics analysis

In this chapter we studied the implications of an increasing share of adults in the population of cannabis users, using a welfare economics approach. This demographic process is already significant in Italy, which is leading European greying: a decrease in birthrate and youth, and an increasing proportion of older people in the general population. We hypothesize that adult users go through a process of social integration and normalization, through which they change their patterns of use and socio-economic status. In order to verify the empirical relevance of the share of adults and the above hypotheses, we interviewed a targeted, non representative, sample of cannabis users: visitors at the biggest Italian cannabis fair. Our data suggest that the role and weight of adults in the cannabis market is quantitatively significant and qualitatively different from that of younger people. We analyzed the links between the aging issue and the views supporting cannabis market restrictions (defined as paternalism, economics externalities, and moral externalities). Finally, we developed a model where we demonstrated how the utility of cannabis market restrictions decreases as the share of adults in the cannabis user population increases.