Using cannabis may help people reduce their alcohol intake, according to the findings of a recent study conducted by researchers at Brown University.
The study, which was published this month in the American Journal of Psychiatry, was designed to mimic the real-life circumstances surrounding the use of alcohol and cannabis. The researchers created an elaborate laboratory environment that resembled a bar or lounge.
The study participants all reported smoking cannabis on a regular basis. The participants also reported episodic heavy alcohol use at least once monthly over the past year.
The lab contained comfortable seating, a bar with a tap, and a selection of alcoholic beverages, including favorites identified by study participants. To stock the laboratory bar, the researchers invested time and effort in visiting numerous retailers to acquire unique vintages and liquors requested by the study participants.
“We wanted to make sure that when given the opportunity, you would be really driven to drink,” Jane Metrik, the leader of the study and a professor of behavioral and social science at Brown University, told NPR.
Smoking Out for Science
The study experiment consisted of three separate sessions utilizing the bar lab and a designated smoking room. In one session, the participants were asked to smoke a cannabis joint made with a low-potency strain of cannabis. In another session, the participants smoked a joint with higher-potency cannabis. For the remaining session, the participants smoked a placebo joint using cannabis with levels of THC too low to get them high.
After smoking, the participants were moved to the laboratory bar, where they spent the next two hours alone. Participants were allowed to drink up to eight small alcoholic drinks during that time. The researchers recorded data on each participant’s alcohol consumption during their time spent in the lab.
The researchers determined that participants consumed less alcohol after smoking cannabis, with the higher-potency cannabis showing the most dramatic effect.
“Participants consumed significantly less alcohol after smoking cannabis with 3.1% THC and 7.2% THC, reducing consumption by 19% and 27%, respectively,” the researchers wrote.
The data also showed that participants delayed their alcohol consumption after smoking cannabis.
“Following overnight cannabis abstinence, smoking cannabis acutely decreased alcohol consumption compared to placebo. Further controlled research on a variety of cannabinoids is needed to inform clinical alcohol treatment guidelines,” the researchers concluded.
“It is an important signal that we’re detecting,” said Metrik. “It is telling us that cannabinoids could play a potential therapeutic role in alcohol use disorder.”
Should Heavy Drinkers Replace Alcohol with Cannabis?
The study offers significant evidence that using cannabis may help people reduce their alcohol consumption in the short term. But the researchers noted that they were not making any recommendations based on the study’s findings.
“We’re not ready to tell people seeking treatment for alcohol, go ahead and substitute cannabis, and it will work out for you,” Metrik.
Previous studies exploring the link between cannabis use and alcohol consumption have been largely inconclusive. Despite the lack of clear evidence, however, reports of people using cannabis in an effort to reduce their drinking are abundant, with many referring to the phenomenon as “Cali-sober.”
While more research is needed, the Brown University study offers new data on a potential link between alcohol and weed.
“This study really moves the field forward by helping to resolve one of the unresolved questions in the literature,” says Jeff Wardell, a professor of psychology at York University. “This gives us more confidence that there’s a real effect here.”
Although the findings are compelling, Wardell notes that while the risks of heavy drinking are significant, cannabis is “not a harm-free substance,” either. It may not be appropriate to recommend that patients use cannabis as a strategy to reduce their alcohol consumption.
“We would have to choose which one for a given individual might be less harmful and make sure that it’s not inadvertently just replacing one problem with another,” he added.
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