A new study suggests that cannabis-infused beverages may help reduce the harms of alcohol drinking by providing an alternative for consumers.
Public health researchers have long searched for realistic ways to reduce the toll of alcohol, a substance linked to nearly 200 diseases and injuries worldwide, and the new paper sheds light on the role that the increasing availability of THC drinks can play.
“Findings suggest cannabis beverages may support alcohol substitution and reduce alcohol-related harms, offering a promising alternative for individuals seeking to lower alcohol intake,” the researchers affiliated with the State University of New York at Buffalo wrote.
The study, published in the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs and based on a survey of 438 adults who had used cannabis in some form over the past year, examined whether cannabis beverages in particular were being used as a substitute for alcohol, rather than alongside it.
“We found that one-third of respondents used cannabis beverages and that the people who used these beverages reported substituting cannabis for alcohol more frequently than those who only used other cannabis products,” the paper says.
“In the first study of its kind, we introduce the concept of having cannabis as harm reduction for alcohol,” the study’s lead researcher, Dr. Jessica Kruger, said in a press release. “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.”
The press release notes that the study’s “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.”
Read more at Marijuana Moment
