Vacant land is a serious problem in many cities, and cities have recently begun to explore greening as a management strategy to reduce the negative influence of vacancy. The city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania pioneered the use of a simple greening treatment—removal of debris coupled with planting grass and trees—as a means of improving blighted communities. Though they are becoming more popular, the actual economic impact of these programs is not well understood. This paper details the use of a spatial difference-in-differences approach for measuring the impact of Philadelphia's innovative vacant land greening program on nearby residential property values. This approach compares observed changes in property values surrounding treated vacant lots with observed changes around control lots—lots which might have been treated but were not. While property values throughout the city increased during the study period, properties surrounding greened vacant lots had a greater increase in value than properties surrounding nongreened vacant lots. By developing both global and local versions of the model, we also explore spatial variation in the impacts of the program—offering insight into which kinds of neighborhoods might derive the greatest economic benefit from vacant land greening programs.

Using cannabis to reduce psychological and physical distress, referred to as self-medication, is a significant risk factor for cannabis use disorder. To better understand this high-risk behavior, a sample of 290 young adults (ages 18–25; 45.6% female) were recruited from two U.S. universities in January and February of 2020 to complete a survey about their cannabis use and self-medication. Results: seventy-six percent endorsed using cannabis to reduce problems such as anxiety, sleep, depression, pain, loneliness, social discomfort, and concentration. When predicting reasons for self-medication with cannabis, logistic regression models showed that lower CUDIT-R scores, experiencing withdrawal, living in a state where cannabis was illegal, and being female were all associated with higher rates of self-medication. Withdrawal symptoms were tested to predict self-medication with cannabis, and only insomnia and loss of appetite were significant predictors. To further explore why young adults self-medicate, each of the original predictors were regressed on seven specified reasons for self-medication. Young adults experiencing withdrawal were more likely to self-medicate for pain. Participants living where cannabis is legal were less likely to self-medicate for anxiety and depression. Living where cannabis is illegal also significantly predicted self-medicating for social discomfort—though the overall model predicting social discomfort was statistically non-significant. Finally, female participants were more likely to self-medicate for anxiety. These results suggest widespread self-medication among young adults with likely CUD and underscore the complexity of their cannabis use. The findings have implications for understanding why young adults use cannabis in relation to psychological and physical distress and for accurately treating young adults with cannabis use disorder.