Researchers studying the effects of marijuana faced an obstacle: they couldn't create an exact control group. But a change in drug laws in the Netherlands offered a perfect laboratory.
ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
It can be difficult to study the effects of legalizing marijuana. And now, as many states are making marijuana more available, there's new research from - surprise - the Netherlands that might address an important question. NPR's social science correspondent Shankar Vedantam is here to explain. Welcome.
SHANKAR VEDANTAM, BYLINE: Hi, Ari.
SHAPIRO: Tell us about this Dutch study.
VEDANTAM: Well, the Dutch study was addressing a perennial problem that researchers have in studying marijuana laws, Ari. From a research perspective, what you really want to study the effect of a law is to have the law selectively apply to only some people. So if half the people in a city were given access to pot while the other half were not, you could compare the two groups and study the effects that marijuana has. Now, in most places, you don't have that kind of control group. Either all adults have legal access or no adults have access. The new Dutch study found a way out of the problem. It utilized a natural experiment in the city of Maastricht.
[For more go to http://www.npr.org/2015/06/09/...h-skills-study-found]
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