Weed May Help Drinkers Cut Back on Booze

A new study out of Brown University suggests that smoking marijuana curbs the immediate desire to drink alcohol. As the New York Times reports, the results of the unique study were striking: strong weed resulted in 30% less booze being consumed among study participants. The experiment essentially tested the premise of going "California sober," notes Neuroscience News, the idea of forgoing alcohol for marijuana. Researchers stressed, however, that cannabis carries risks of its own and is not a proven treatment for alcohol abuse.

For the experiment, researchers recruited 157 adults who regularly use both alcohol and cannabis and had them participate in three lab sessions, each separated by several days. Participants smoked joints with either a high THC content, a lower THC content, or a placebo. After smoking, they were placed in a simulated bar environment stocked with their preferred alcoholic beverages while researchers observed their drinking behavior. Results showed that participants drank about a third less alcohol after smoking high-THC cannabis compared to the placebo group, and about 20% less after the lower-THC joints.

"We're not ready to tell people seeking treatment for alcohol, go ahead and substitute cannabis, and it will work out for you," Jane Metrik of Brown University, who led the study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, tells NPR. But the research appears to document a link and point the way toward future studies. "At the end of the day, it will have to be these really tightly controlled laboratory studies and then the real-world evidence coming together to paint the picture," says Johannes Thrul of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, who was involved with the study.