BY NORML
POSTED ON APRIL 29, 2021
Boulder, CO: The consumption of CBD-dominant cannabis is associated with reductions in subjects’ intake of alcohol, according to data published in the journal Psychology of Addictive Behaviors.
Investigators affiliated with the University of Colorado at Boulder assessed the relationship between marijuana consumption and alcohol intake in 120 subjects assigned to use one of three legal-market cannabis strains (predominantly THC, predominantly CBD, and relatively equal ratios of CBD and THC).
Researchers reported that participants assigned to use CBD-dominant cannabis during the trial period “drank fewer drinks per drinking day, had fewer alcohol use days, and fewer alcohol and cannabis co-use days compared with the other groups.” Subjects assigned to the other two groups reported no changes in their drinking patterns.
Authors acknowledged that the results were “consistent with preclinical work suggesting that CBD may be associated with decreased alcohol consumption.” Separate studies have previously indicated that CBD may reduce subjects’ cravings for other controlled substances, including tobacco and heroin.
They concluded: “The present study lends preliminary support to the notion that plant-based CBD may be associated with decreased alcohol consumption among regular cannabis users and suggests that it may be feasible for regular cannabis users to switch to a higher CBD, lower THC content cannabis strain for the purposes of reducing their alcohol intake.”
Separate data published by the study’s co-authors in January in the journal Addiction similarly reported an inverse relationship between cannabis use and alcohol. In that study, chronic alcohol consumers significantly reduced their alcohol intake on days when they used cannabis as compared to days when they did not.
Full text of the study, “THC and CBD effects on alcohol use among alcohol and cannabis co-users,” appears in Psychology of Addictive Behaviors