Adolescent drug use and the deterrent effect of school-imposed penalties

Estimates of the effect of school-imposed penalties for drug use on a student's consumption of marijuana are biased if both are determined by unobservable school or individual attributes. Reverse causality is also a potential challenge to retrieving estimates of the causal relationship, as the severity of school sanctions may simply reflect the need for more-severe sanctions. Using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, I offer an instrumental-variables approach to retrieving an estimate of the causal response of marijuana use to sanctions and thereby demonstrate the efficacy of school-imposed penalties as a deterrent to adolescent drug use. This suggests that school sanctions may have important long-run benefits.

► Estimates of the effect of school-imposed penalties for drug use on a student's consumption of marijuana are biased if both are determined by unobservable school or individual attributes.
► Reverse causality is also a potential challenge to retrieving estimates of the causal relationship, as the severity of school sanctions may simply reflect the need for more-severe sanctions.
► Using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, I offer an instrumental-variables approach to retrieving an estimate of the causal response of marijuana use to sanctions.
► I demonstrate the efficacy of school-imposed penalties as a deterrent to adolescent drug use.
► This research suggests that school sanctions may have important long-run benefits.