Brown University researchers run joint-and-drink study to find alcohol consumption falls after smoking cannabis
It turns out that going “California sober” may actually help you stay away from alcohol, according to new research published in the the American Journal of Psychiatry.
A team of Brown University researchers conducted a study in which participants were given marijuana joints to smoke and then sent out to a controlled “bar lab”, in which they then were given the choice to have up to eight mini alcoholic beverages. The experiment was conducted three separate times: once with 7.2% THC cannabis, once with 3.1% THC cannabis and once with 0.03% THC cannabis, which was considered a placebo.
A major component of the study was the replication of a real-life bar, complete with dark lighting and drinks on tap.
Jane Metrik, a professor of behavioral and social science at Brown University who led the study, stressed the importance of authenticity for participants, telling NPR that “we wanted to make sure that when given the opportunity, you would be really driven to drink”.
