According to a new study funded by the federal government, people who use marijuana before alcohol drink less alcohol and report fewer cravings.
The authors of the study, published in the PsyArXiv open-access journal late last month, found that cannabis self-administration before alcohol led to a significant reduction in alcohol consumption.
The researchers continued to say that, “Furthermore,” “we found cannabis and alcohol consumption together was associated with significant reductions in acute alcohol cravings compared to drinking alcohol only.”
The National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism funded the study. It provides more evidence of a substitute effect. Users report substituting some or all of alcohol with cannabis.
A team of eight researchers from Colorado State University, University of Colorado and Colorado State University examined the behaviors of 62 people who drank heavily for at least 3 months and used marijuana.
Each person participated in two separate sessions in which they could drink up to five alcoholic beverages—an initial priming drink, followed by up to four more optional drinks offered at 15-minute intervals.
In the first of two sessions, participants consumed marijuana according to their own preferences and in their usual dose. This was then weighed and measured.
The average number of self-administered drinks was two when subjects drank alcohol only. With cannabis added to the mix, the average number of self-administered drinks was 1.5—roughly 25 percent lower.
While not all participants drank alcohol less, the ones who did reported “reductions in alcohol crave at multiple timepoints following consumption of cannabis and alcohol as compared to drinking only alcohol,” according to the report.
The study notes that alcohol cravings in those who consumed cannabis and drank the same or more afterward either increased or remained level.
According to the study, “for individuals who consume alcohol heavily, cannabis could serve as an alternative for it, and this may occur through a reduction in cravings.”
The authors acknowledge that there is no one size fits all.
They wrote: “The results of this study show that the differential effects that cannabis has on alcohol cravings may be responsible for the tendency to substitute behavior and that they are independent of plasma THC levels.” Further research will be needed, however, to identify other variables which may influence this relationship.
Although the “novel human lab study,” as the report refers to it, indicates “initial supports for the idea of legal-market marijuana serving as a replacement for alcohol among certain heavy-drinking people,” the report states that factors like demographic differences, cannabis usage motives, social contextual and subjective drug effects merit further investigation.
The authors concluded that future research should explore other individual and context factors to predict whether marijuana can be used as a substitute for alcohol in harm reduction. This could have significant clinical implications for approaches for recovery involving non-abstinence.
The new study follows a separate survey analysis published in March that found that three in four young adults reported substituting cannabis for alcohol at least once per week—a “fast-emerging” trend that reflects the “rapid expansion” of the hemp product marketplace.
The report from Bloomberg Intelligence (BI) found that, across various demographics, cannabis is increasingly being used as an alternative to alcohol and even non-alcoholic beverages as more companies—including major multi-state marijuana operators (MSOs)—expand their offerings.
The findings were largely consist with a growing body of studies indicating that cannabis—whether federally legal hemp or still-prohibited marijuana—is being utilized as a substitute for many Americans amid the reform movement.
YouGov conducted a survey in which it found, among other things, that the majority of Americans believed regular consumption of alcohol was more harmful than marijuana. However, despite health concerns, many adults prefer to drink alcohol over cannabis.
A separate poll released in January determined that more than half of marijuana consumers say they drink less alcohol, or none at all, after using cannabis.
Yet another survey—which was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and released in December—found that young adults are nearly three times more likely to use marijuana than alcohol on a daily or near-daily basis.
That poll provided more granular, age-specific findings than a similar report published last year, finding that more Americans overall smoke marijuana on a daily basis than drink alcohol every day—and that alcohol drinkers are more likely to say they would benefit from limiting their use than cannabis consumers are.
A separate study published in the journal Addiction last year similarly found that there are more U.S. adults who use marijuana daily than who drink alcohol every day.
In December, BI also published the results of a survey indicating that substitution of cannabis for alcohol is “soaring” as the state-level legalization movement expands and relative perceptions of harm shift. In that same poll, a significant number of Americans said that they also substituted marijuana for painkillers and cigarettes.
Another BI analysis from last September projected that the expansion of the marijuana legalization movement will continue to post a “significant threat” to the alcohol industry, citing survey data that suggests more people are using cannabis as a substitute for alcoholic beverages such a beer and wine.
Yet another study on the impact of marijuana consumption on people’s use of other drugs that was released in December suggested that, for many, cannabis may act as a less-dangerous substitute, allowing people to reduce their intake of substances such as alcohol, methamphetamine and opioids like morphine.
A study out of Canada, where marijuana is federally legal, found that legalization was “associated with a decline in beer sales,” suggesting a substitution effect.
These analyses are in line with recent data from other surveys that looked more widely at American attitudes towards marijuana and alcohol. For example, a Gallup survey found that respondents view cannabis as less harmful than alcohol, tobacco and nicotine vapes—and more adults now smoke cannabis than smoke cigarettes.
A separate survey released by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) and Morning Consult last June also found that Americans consider marijuana to be significantly less dangerous than cigarettes, alcohol and opioids—and they say cannabis is less addictive than each of those substances, as well as technology.
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