In Case You Haven't Heard…

Abstract

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism has an alcohol policy information system that is a deep trove of information on state policies. Recently ADAW noticed that it includes cannabis. We asked NIAAA director George F. Koob, Ph.D., why this is. After all, cannabis is the province of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and the two agencies — both research agencies — have in the past battled over turf. Here is his response: “The primary goal of the Alcohol Policy Information System (APIS) is to encourage and facilitate research on the effects and effectiveness of alcohol‐related public policies. Inclusion of information on state policies addressing recreational use of cannabis is consistent with this objective. While some policy researchers hypothesize that easier access to marijuana will lead people to substitute marijuana for alcohol, others suggest easier access will simply lead to greater co‐use. Combining alcohol and marijuana could increase the risk of alcohol‐impaired traffic crashes and compound the impact of alcohol on adolescent brain development. As such, it is important for researchers studying alcohol policy to be able to consider changes in policies governing access to marijuana. In the absence of a similar data resource providing authoritative, detailed, and comparable cross‐sectional and longitudinal data on policies addressing [the] adult recreational use of cannabis, the APIS platform provides an effective way to ensure that alcohol policy researchers can incorporate appropriate cannabis policy information in their studies.”