Alcohol is typically the first substance consumed by subjects who report polydrug use later in life, according to data published in The Journal of School Health. “Alcohol is the most commonly used substance, and the majority of polysubstance using respondents consumed alcohol prior to tobacco or marijuana initiation,” they reported.
Marijuana consumers do not typically use cannabis and alcohol in combination with one another, regardless of whether they are consuming cannabis for medicinal or social purposes, according to data published online ahead of print in the journal Addiction. Authors reported, “Fewer than one in five recreational users report simultaneous use of alcohol and cannabis most or all of the time and less than three of medicinal users report frequent simultaneous use of alcohol and cannabis.”
Patients who possess legal access to cannabis frequently substitute it in place of alcohol and prescription drugs, according to survey data published online in the journal Drug and Alcohol Review. “Substituting cannabis for one or more of alcohol, illicit drugs or prescription drugs was reported by 87 percent of respondents, with 80.3 percent reporting substitution for prescription drugs, 51.7 percent for alcohol, and 32.6 percent for illicit substances,” they reported.
It was less than a year ago when the mainstream media was chock-full of headlines like this one: ‘Brain changes associated with casual marijuana use in young adults, study finds.’
But a funny thing happened when a team of scientists from the University of Colorado and the University of Kentucky tried to replicate these results in a separate, larger sample (158 participants) of subjects after rigorously controlling for both groups’ use of alcohol. They couldn’t.
Younger voters overwhelmingly agree that marijuana is less harmful than alcohol, according to the findings of a Rare.us/Gravis Marketing poll released yesterday.
By Mitch Earleywine, Ph.D State University of New York at Albany Chair, NORML board of…
Those who report consuming cannabis two or three times per week are less likely to engage in at risk drinking behavior, according to data published online in The American Journal of Addictions. Researchers reported, “Among cannabis users, frequent cannabis use is associated with … a lower prevalence of hazardous alcohol use when compared to occasional cannabis use.”
Seventy-five percent of Americans believe that the sale and use of cannabis will eventually be legal for adults, according to national polling data released this week by the Pew Research Center. Pew pollsters have been surveying public opinion on the issue legalization since 1973, when only 12 percent of Americans supported regulating the substance.