ReviewSubstance use & misuse2016
Substitution and Complementarity of Alcohol and Cannabis: A Review of the Literature.
Review in Substance use & misuse, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 96 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
96 citing papers in PubMed.
- Working memory capacity predicts cannabis-induced effects on alcohol urge.Addictive behaviors · 2026Trial
- Acute Effects of Cannabis on Alcohol Craving and Consumption: A Randomized Controlled Crossover Trial.The American journal of psychiatry · 2026Trial
- Effects of cannabis use on alcohol consumption in a sample of treatment-engaged heavy drinkers in Colorado.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2021Trial
- Alcohol substitution during one month of cannabis abstinence among non-treatment seeking youth.Progress in neuro-psychopharmacology & biological psychiatry · 2021Trial
- Cannabis use during alcohol treatment is associated with alcohol-related problems one-year post-treatment.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2018Trial
- Change of substance-related hospitalisation in adolescents after cannabis legalisation in Thailand in 2022.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2026Article
- Might cannabis Legalization Have Affected Public Health-Relevant Alcohol- and Tobacco-use Outcomes in Canada?Nordisk alkohol- & narkotikatidskrift : NAT · 2026Article
- State Cannabis and Alcohol Policy Environments: Associations With College Students' Use of Cannabis, Alcohol, and Both Substances.American journal of preventive medicine · 2026Article
- Nonmonotonic Associations Between Cannabis Use Frequency and Alcohol Use in a Statewide Sample of Young Adults From Washington State.American journal of preventive medicine · 2026Article
- Perceived partner substance use, genetic predispositions, and their associations with problematic alcohol use, emotional well-being, and relationship quality.Psychological medicine · 2026Article
- Alcohol Consumption During Pregnancy and State Implementation of Legal Nonmedical Cannabis Retail Sales in the U.S., 2011-2023.American journal of preventive medicine · 2026Article
- Intentions matter: How planned and unplanned alcohol and cannabis use influences outcomes.Psychology of addictive behaviors : journal of the Society of Psychologists in Addictive Behaviors · 2026Article
- Alcohol quantity mediates the association between daily alcohol and cannabis co-use and alcohol consequences.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2026Article
- Cannabis and Alcohol Co-Use And HIV Biomedical Intervention Engagement Among Black Sexual/Gender Minority People: A Day-Level Analysis.American journal of preventive medicine · 2026Article
- Associations Between State Cannabis and Alcohol Policy Restrictiveness and College Students' Cannabis Use, Binge Drinking and Co-Use.Substance use & misuse · 2026Article
- Mutual age-varying influences of binge drinking and cannabis use during emerging adulthood in the NCANDA cohort.Alcohol, clinical & experimental research · 2025Article
- Article
- Medical cannabis legalization and the use of illicit drugs, alcohol, and tobacco.Journal of cannabis research · 2025Article
- Interactive associations of cannabis and alcohol outlet densities with assault injuries in California: a spatiotemporal analysis.American journal of epidemiology · 2025Article
- Examining the relationship between cannabis use and drinking levels on co-use days.Alcohol, clinical & experimental research · 2025Article
36 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundWhether alcohol and cannabis are used as substitutes or complements remains debated, and findings across various disciplines have not been synthesized to date.
objectiveThis article is a first step towards organizing the interdisciplinary literature on alcohol and cannabis substitution and complementarity.
methodElectronic searches were performed using PubMed and ISI Web of Knowledge. Behavioral studies of humans with "alcohol" (or "ethanol") and "cannabis" (or "marijuana") and "complement(*)" (or "substitut(*)") in the title or as a keyword were considered. Studies were organized according to sample characteristics (youth, general population, clinical and community-based). These groups were not set a priori, but were informed by the literature review process.
resultsOf the 39 studies reviewed, 16 support substitution, ten support complementarity, 12 support neither and one supports both. Results from studies of youth suggest that youth may reduce alcohol in more liberal cannabis environments (substitute), but reduce cannabis in more stringent alcohol environments (complement). Results from the general population suggest that substitution of cannabis for alcohol may occur under more lenient cannabis policies, though cannabis-related laws may affect alcohol use differently across genders and racial groups.
conclusionsAlcohol and cannabis act as both substitutes and complements. Policies aimed at one substance may inadvertently affect consumption of other substances. Future studies should collect fine-grained longitudinal, prospective data from the general population and subgroups of interest, especially in locations likely to legalize cannabis.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.