Economic Relationship Between Alcohol and Cannabis Revisited

Consuming cannabis in combination with alcohol is common among Australian cannabis users. This paper investigates whether the economic relationship between cannabis and alcohol is affected by the manner in which these two substances are used. Our results indicate that cannabis and alcohol are economic complements for all cannabis users, but this relationship is stronger for cannabis users who tend to use alcohol and cannabis together, whom we refer to as polysubstance users. Separate analysis by gender suggests that cannabis consumption by polysubstance and non-polysubstance using males is more responsive to changes in the full price of alcohol than their female counterparts.