Study Shows Medical Cannabis Lowers Alcohol Sales

Medical Cannabis

Many researchers have been studying the impact on humans of weed, and how it impacts use of other drugs. This is also a major concern for medical marijuana Santa Monica companies as most of would like to know competition to their businesses. A recent study by Georgia State University and University of Connecticut researchers shows that medical cannabis legalization has led to a fall in the demand of alcohol, with some states experiencing sales decline of up to 15 percent.

In this study, the team obtained alcohol sale records of several companies involved in retail chain store business, drug storage and supply, grocery storage and sale, and convenient store business for 2006-2015. As they has previously found out that people rarely respond honestly to survey questions about their usage, they decided to obtain the information from Nielsen Retail Scanner Database. This company records sales data for 90 retail chain stores across the US.

The researchers accounted for other factors that determine drinking patterns such as income, age, and race.

They wanted to find out whether medical cannabis is a complementary or substitute product for alcohol.

These researchers concluded the two products are substitutes for each other. They also noted that as soon as medical pot was introduced in the states, alcohol consumption in some counties within their jurisdiction declined by 15 percent.

If their findings are true, there are high chances they have understated the effect of legalizing pot on alcohol consumption. With the medical cannabis laws, only a few people can legally obtain and use the substance, and the process is usually long. One has to get a licensed doctor’s recommendations, and normally the patient must meet certain conditions to qualify for medical marijuana. With recreational pot, any individual that has attained the legal age can use it.

While some research conflict with this one, there is solid proof for that.  In a previous study, researchers analyzed 39 or the available reports on this subject. They found out that 16 said pot is a substitute product for alcohol, 10 said they are complementary products and people take more alcohol when they use weed, 16 said weed is a substitute product for alcohol, and one was undecided and supported both. Twelve of the studies were inconclusive.

One major advantage of weed over alcohol is it does not have a fatal dose, and there have been no reported cases of weed poisoning. Compared to weed, alcohol is more addictive, and besides causing damage to body organs such as the liver and kidneys, it causes more machinery related injuries including causing vehicle accidents and is much more likely to lead to violent and aggressive behavior.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention says that excessive alcohol consumption causes an estimated 90,000 deaths per year in the US.

As the product has no huge negative health impact, weed delivery Santa Monica businesses are always at your service to supply you the product whenever in need.

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