@techreport{NBERw5555,
 title = "Drug Use and AFDC Participation: Is There a Connection?",
 author = "Robert Kaestner",
 institution = "National Bureau of Economic Research",
 type = "Working Paper",
 series = "Working Paper Series",
 number = "5555",
 year = "1996",
 month = "May",
 URL = "http://www.nber.org/papers/w5555",
 abstract = {Drug use and welfare are two serious social problems that have received widespread public attention.  Recently, it has been suggested that illicit drug use is a major cause of welfare, although there is only anecdotal evidence to support such a claim.  This paper provides the first systematic analysis of the issue by examining the relationship between illicit drug use and welfare participation among a nationally representative sample of young adults.   The results indicate that past year drug use, predominantly marijuana use, is positively related to future welfare participation for both non-black and black women.  The magnitude of the drug effect, however, is modest: if drug use among welfare participants was reduced to the levels of non-participants, welfare participation would decline by approximately one percent.},
}