The impact of recreational cannabis laws on cannabis use disorder during “treat and release” visits to hospital emergency departments in four U.S. states, 2017–2020

Abstract States’ legalization of cannabis influences cannabis use and may increase cannabis use disorder (CUD)—a problematic pattern of use leading to significant impairment. Few studies have examined the influence of recreational cannabis legalization on CUD in the emergency department (ED). We used four years of data from the State Emergency Department Databases (SEDD) (2017–2020) from three states (CO, MD, OR) and three years of SEDD from Rhode Island (2017–2019) to examine the relationship between the recreational legalization of cannabis and