Summary: Young adults often use alcohol and cannabis together, a behavior that may dull the perceived negative effects of drinking and increase the risk of alcohol-related harm. A recent study found that simultaneous use can reduce users’ awareness of alcohol’s effects, potentially leading to alcohol use disorder and dangerous behaviors like drunk driving.

Using real-time surveys via smartphones, researchers gathered thousands of data points reflecting participants’ substance use and emotions during daily life. These insights can help improve treatment and prevention strategies by identifying psychological factors that reinforce simultaneous use.

Key Facts:

• Diminished Awareness: Cannabis may blunt awareness of alcohol’s negative effects.
• Real-Time Data: Participants reported substance use and feelings multiple times per day.
• Treatment Implications: Understanding user motivations may guide more effective interventions.

Source: University of Missouri Columbia

Many young adults drink alcohol and use cannabis together, at the same time, as a coping mechanism or to relieve stress.

A recent study from the University of Missouri School of Medicine found that people may perceive fewer negative effects of alcohol if they are also using cannabis at the same time, potentially leading to alcohol use disorder, alcohol-related harms and drunk driving.

Given how frequently people use cannabis and drink, it’s important to understand what drives simultaneous use and what its ramifications can be, study author Andrea Wycoff said.

“Studying the coping mechanisms and motivations of people most at risk for heavy use will help make substance use treatment more effective,” Wycoff said. “It may also help with prevention efforts when talking to high-risk individuals or populations.”

Wycoff’s team examined 6,334 data entries from a sample of 88 adults. Participants were prompted to fill out multiple surveys per day via a notification on their phone that asked about their substance use.

If they recently drank or used cannabis, they would complete follow-up surveys asking how they felt.

“These surveys were completed in real-time, during the person’s day-to-day life,” Wycoff said.

“This minimized the presence of data where people didn’t remember or misremembered how they felt, which can give us a lot of insight about how simultaneous use unfolds in everyday life.”  

The adverse health effects of alcohol are well-documented; excessive drinking can lead to liver damage or failure, heart strain or damage and various other issues, including a heightened risk of cancer.

Heavy cannabis use also has adverse health consequences, especially with prolonged use starting in adolescence. Examples include cognitive impairment, impaired motor skills, altered brain development, lung damage from smoking, addiction and mental illness.

“More research is needed to determine the extent of potential positive and negative effects of cannabis, but further research should also focus on understanding the psychological processes that reinforce simultaneous use,” Wycoff said.

“Research studies should include people seeking treatment for substance use, as they are one of the main groups that we are hoping to help with our research efforts.”

Andrea Wycoff, PhD is an assistant professor of psychiatry at the MU School of Medicine.

About this addiction and psychology research news

Author: Rochita Ghosh
Source: University of Missouri Columbia
Contact: Rochita Ghosh – University of Missouri Columbia
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News

Original Research: Open access.
“Affective reinforcement of simultaneous versus single use of alcohol and cannabis” by Andrea Wycoff et al. Drug and Alcohol Dependence

Abstract

Affective reinforcement of simultaneous versus single use of alcohol and cannabis

Background

Simultaneous alcohol and cannabis use is prevalent among adults who drink alcohol and is associated with more negative consequences than use of either substance alone. Understanding reinforcement processes that maintain simultaneous versus single-substance use will highlight intervention targets specific to this pattern of use.

In individuals’ daily lives, we tested whether simultaneous use moments are associated with more affectively reinforcing outcomes compared to single use moments.

Methods

We used ecological momentary assessment with 6 +  daily reports for 14 days. Participants were 88 adults ages 18–44 who reported simultaneous use at least twice per week. Mean age was 25.22 years and participants were 60.2 % female.

At each momentary survey, participants reported alcohol and cannabis use, affect, momentary coping and enhancement motives, and subjective appraisals of use.

Results

Simultaneously using cannabis during alcohol-use moments attenuated the increase in negative affect that accompanied coping-motivated drinking (anxious mood b = −0.11, 95 % CI = [-0.19, −0.02], p = .016; depressed mood b = −0.14, 95 % CI = [-0.23, −0.05], p = .003).

Simultaneously using cannabis during alcohol-use moments attenuated the positive association between enhancement drinking motives and subjective drinking-contingent pleasure (b = −0.34, 95 % CI = [-0.50, −0.18], p < .001).

Conclusions

Simultaneously using cannabis during alcohol-use moments altered the subjective effects of alcohol, whereas simultaneously consuming alcohol during cannabis-use moments did not alter the subjective effects of cannabis.

Individuals may perceive that simultaneous cannabis use mitigates undesirable effects of coping-motivated drinking, thereby driving simultaneous use of cannabis alongside alcohol.