Abstract
This research quantifies the benefits of improving access to treatment for substance use disorders (SUD). Using linked administrative information on individuals from Norway, we study the impact of reducing wait times to initiate treatment on health-care utilization, employment and crime. Confounding due to unobserved severity of illness is addressed using an instrumental variables strategy that exploits plausibly exogenous variation in local health-care congestion. We find reducing wait times to initiate treatment shortens the duration of a treatment episode and decreases the number of consultations within the episode. Reducing wait times also increases the probability of employment after initiating treatment, and decreases crime committed while waiting to start treatment as well as after treatment begins. These findings demonstrate that improving access treatment by reducing wait times is a credible means of improving the lives of people with SUDs and reducing the economic and social burden of addiction.