Alcohol use
Alcohol beverage sales taxes for the calendar years 2019 and 2020 were $ 26,817,391.00 and $ 28,791,979.00 , respectively ; a 7.4 % increase ( Figure 2 ). Alcohol beverage sales taxes also increased significantly throughout the same period ( trend : 0.088 per month , p = 0.038 ).
Figure 2 . Joinpoint regression analysis of alcoholic beverage sales tax . Arkansas , January 2019 to January 2021 . alcohol TAX
1.1
1.0
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
Jan 2019
mar 2019
may 2019
jul 2019
sep 2019
nov 2019
jan 2020
mar 2020
may 2020
jul 2020
sep 2020
nov 2020
Jan 2021
Figure 2
Medical Marijuana Use
Medical Marijuana sales tax data collection began in June of 2019 ; therefore , we only have a little over half of that calendar year ’ s data . Medical Marijuana sales taxes for the second half of calendar years 2019 and 2020 were ($ 2,900,536.46 and $ 15,179,234.41 , respectively . A 423.3 % increase . This was a significant increase in Medical Marijuana sales tax after COVID pandemic ( p = 0.0306 ) as shown in Figure 3 . marijuana TAX
6.5
6.0
5.5
Figure 3 . Joinpoint regression analysis of medical marijuana sales tax collected . Arkansas , July 2019 † through January 2021 .
5.0
2019-07-01
2019-10-01
2020-01-01
2020-04-01
2020-07-01
2020-10-01
2021-01-01
2021-04-01
2021-07-01
2021-07-01
2022-01-01
† Medical marijuana sales tax collection was not documented until June 2019 .
Figure 3
. 085
Prescription Opioid Use
The number of opioid prescriptions for calendar years 2019 and 2020 , were 2,905,443 and 2,714,624 , respectively . A 6.6 % decrease . Prior to the pandemic , opioid prescriptions were declining ( trend : -0.0085 per year , p = 0.0017 ). This decline stopped during the pandemic , and there was some increase , though not statistically significant ( trend : 0.00085 per year , p = 0.79 ), as shown in Figure 4 . opioid RX
. 080
. 075
. 070
Figure 4 . Joinpoint regression analysis of opioid prescription dispensation . Arkansas , January 2019 to January 2021 .
PAGE 52 ⊲
Figure 4
Jan 2019
mar 2019
may 2019
jul 2019
sep 2019
nov 2019
jan 2020
mar 2020
may 2020
jul 2020
sep 2020
nov 2020
Jan 2021
FALL 2022 | VOLUME 119 | NUMBER 2 51