Beyond Opioids : The Effect of Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs on Non-Opioid Drug Prescribing

A growing literature has examined how mandatory access prescription drug monitoring programs (MA PDMPs), laws that require providers to consider a patient's prescription history before prescribing controlled substances, affect opioid-related outcomes. However, little is known about their impact on non-opioid-related outcomes. In this paper, we examine the effect of MA PDMPs on prescribing patterns of stimulants and benzodiazepines. Using a difference-in-differences event study design, we show that MA PDMPs led to decreases in stimulant prescribing. In contrast, we find suggestive evidence that benzodiazepine prescriptions increase following the implementation of a MA PDMP. Our findings highlight that MA PDMPs do have effects on non-opioid drug prescribing, but these effects differ substantially across drug types