A recent study from Oregon State University aimed to find out if cannabis legalization influenced the use of other substances by college students. Data was analyzed from nearly 900,000 students over a 10 year period between legalized recreational use, and those living in illegal states. Though opioid use was decreased, binge drinking showed a more significant decrease. And the longer a state had been legal, the larger the decrease. Students in legal recreational states were on average 6% less likely to binge drink. According to this, binge drinking should decrease more and more rapidly considering our legal states are growing in numbers.
It’s not only varieties of cannabis with THC that can help reduce our country’s binge drinking rates. CBD has also been studied in relation with alcohol consumption. Research shows that the compound “provides idiosyncratic protection to the liver and brain, which could reduce the development and impact of alcohol-related liver disease and alcohol related brain injury.”