Marijuana legalization and disability claiming

We study the effect of recent legalization of recreational marijuana use laws (RMLs) in the United States on new applications and allowances for Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income over the period 2001–2019. We combine administrative caseload data from the Social Security Administration with state policy changes using two-way fixed-effects methods. We find that RML adoption increases applications for both benefits. However, there is no change in allowances post-RML. We provide suggestive evidence that the observed changes in applications post-RML are driven by increases in marijuana misuse and selective migration, and decreases in unemployment.