New research reveals cannabis-infused drinks significantly slash alcohol consumption, offering a promising, lower-risk alternative for a healthier lifestyle.
In a study published last month in the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, researchers at the University of Buffalo School of Public Health and Health Professions found that people who drank cannabis-infused beverages cut their consumption of alcohol nearly in half.
The study, The Exploration of Cannabis Beverage Substitution for Alcohol: A Novel Harm Reduction Strategy, surveyed 438 anonymous adults who reported using cannabis in the past year, including about one-third who reported consuming beverages infused with non-intoxicating cannabidiol (CBD) and more than half (56 percent) who reported consuming alcoholic beverages. People who consumed cannabis beverages were more likely to report substituting cannabis for alcohol (59 percent) than those who consumed it in other forms (47 percent).
People reported that once they started using CBD beverages, the number of alcoholic drinks they consumed dropped by nearly 50 percent, from 7.02 per week before CBD beverages to 3.55 per week after. More than six out 10 (61.5 percent) reported reducing their alcohol consumption, while 1.1 percent quit booze entirely. On the other hand, 3.3 percent reported drinking more alcohol.
Alcohol consumption has been linked to at least seven forms of cancer and nearly 200 health conditions and diseases, as well as having negative societal impacts ranging from domestic violence to drunk driving. While cannabis is not free of negative health impacts, it poses lower risks and harms, especially compared to heavy drinking.
The findings suggest that cannabis beverages may support alcohol substitution and reduce alcohol-related harms, offering a promising alternative for people interested in reducing their alcohol intake. And this was with non-intoxicating CBD beverages at relatively low doses—90 percent of respondents reported drinking beverages with 10 mg of CBD or less. The researchers did not examine the substitution effect with intoxicating cannabis beverages, which could reasonably be expected to have an even stronger effect.
"In the first study of its kind, we introduce the concept of having cannabis as harm reduction for alcohol. Cannabis has been proposed as harm reduction for other drugs such as opioids but not talked about as often for legal substances such as alcohol," said study first author Jessica Kruger, PhD, a clinical associate professor of community health and health behavior in UB’s School of Public Health and Health Professions. But, she cautioned, "I think we have a long way to go before this is seen as mainstream as cannabis beverages are a new modality of use."
"Several previous studies, including ours, have demonstrated that people have reduced their alcohol consumption by switching to cannabis," said Daniel Kruger, PhD, a paper co-author and research associate professor in UB’s School of Public Health and Health Professions.
"It’s remarkable that people who use cannabis beverages report an even greater reduction in alcohol use than those who use other types of cannabis products (but not beverages). We believe this may be because of the similarity in administration method and context of use — people at parties or bars will likely have a drink in their hand, in this case a cannabis beverage rather than an alcoholic one," he added.