Many smokers would like to believe weed doesn't do any harm, but regardless of the drug's effects, a new study suggests smoking pot could lead to problems with another substance: alcohol.
Researchers from Columbia University and the City University of New York conducted the study, which appears in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence. They analyzed data from 27,461 adult participants in the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions, who had no history of alcohol abuse.
Among those who had already used marijuana at the beginning of the study, and used it again over the next three years, 23 percent developed alcohol problems. That number was only 5 percent for those who didn't smoke at all, which means smoking weed made participants five times more likely to develop alcohol use disorder.
Among people who already had alcohol problems, cannabis users were less likely to recover over the study's duration.
Sorry, 420 fanatics, it looks like smoking weed only impedes your memory, but also hurts your relationship with alcohol.
Study co-author Renne Goodwin told NTRSCTN in a statement that, assuming people aren't smoking for medical reasons, they "should be aware—especially if they have other risk factors for alcohol use disorders such as a family history—that marijuana use may increase their vulnerability to developing alcohol use disorders."
She added, "For people with ongoing alcohol use disorders who may be trying to quit, our results suggest that stopping use of marijuana entirely is recommended."
