NIMBY Concerns, Substance Use Disorder Treatment, and Local Crime

• In Event: Studies of the Spatial Overlap of Drug Use, Drug Treatment and Crime

Abstract

A large literature in the social sciences documents the impact of NIMBY-related concerns and the market failures they create. While “NIMBYism” often reflects legitimate local interests, it can exacerbate market failures by restricting the supply of socially beneficial projects, such as affordable housing, renewable energy infrastructure and rail lines. This paper provides empirical evidence on a particularly high-stakes social problem which often butts heads against NIMBY-related concerns: the provision of substance use disorder treatment. In 2022, an estimated 27.2 million Americans aged 12 or older had a drug use disorder and, in the same year, over 100,000 individuals died from a drug overdose death. Substance use disorder treatment remains one of the best available options for reducing deaths from overdose but may be under-provided, in part, due to opposition from local residents. We combine unique incident-level crime records and data on the opening and closing of licensed community drug treatment centers to study the localized impact of substance use disorder clinics on public safety. Contrary to the concerns that some local residents have, we find no evidence that substance use disorder clinics bring crime to a local area. If anything, there is evidence of a small improvement in public safety.

Authors

• David Mitre Becerril, University of Connecticut

• Aaron Chalfin, University of Pennsylvania

• Brandon del Pozo, Brown University

• Jonathan Cantor, RAND