A few years ago, I found myself laying in a hospital bed having been diagnosed with a bilateral pulmonary embolism (blood clots in my lungs) and pneumonia. Luckily for me, the blood clots did not prove fatal, the pneumonia cleared up, and I was able to leave the hospital after almost five days. However, before I could be discharged, I was faced with another dilemma; one that would ultimately change my life in a way that I could have never imagined.
Starting my freshman year in college, I, like many college students, began experimenting with alcohol. Over the course of the next almost four years, I found myself drinking and partying more and more. This continued after graduation and into my 30s. While my drinking was largely done in social settings with friends on the weekends, I found myself more often than not drinking more than most of my friends. This led to expensive bar tabs and regret-filled hangovers that added to my anxiety and depression. I was also seeing habits around my alcohol consumption develop in similar ways to what I had seen with my mother and father growing up. Ultimately, I knew something needed to change. However, at that time, I was unwilling to make those changes.
Fast forward a few years, and there I was laying in the hospital fighting to live. At the time, alcohol was the furthest thing from my mind, but I also was not thinking about quitting drinking either. That was all until the team of doctors that saved my life prescribed me with a blood thinner to help prevent any further clotting issues. While I was happy to take any medication that would keep me from going through another hospital stay or potentially something worse, I was not too keen on their statements about limiting my alcohol intake. In a truly sobering moment, one of the doctors treating me suggested that I consume no more than four alcoholic beverages while taking the blood thinner. At first, I thought this would be no big deal. However, when I was informed that I would likely be prescribed a blood thinner for the rest of my life, the reality set in that I would not be able to have the same relationship I had with alcohol before I had been hospitalized. This was a difficult concept to grasp, and I worried that my social life was mostly over as alcohol had always ridden shotgun through the years when I was socializing with friends.
Feeling conflicted about the decision I knew I had to make, I began to wonder about using medical cannabis in place of alcohol. It was at this time that I started to research the benefits of trading alcohol for cannabis and the potential cannabis had as an exit drug or harm reduction tool. What I found while researching was incredibly inspiring.
In my research, I came across phrases like “California sober,” “cannabis maintenance,” “exit drug,” and “harm reduction.” As I dug deeper into these phrases, I realized that each of them, at their root, described scenarios in which people were replacing (or, at the very least, were reducing) their intake of other harder substances, including alcohol. I read a number of anecdotal reports of people that had reduced or altogether eliminated their consumption of alcohol. I also came across several studies and other articles that explored the concept of replacing alcohol with cannabis.
In one study, 40% of users reported that they used cannabis to decrease their alcohol intake. In that same study, 66% of those participating in the study indicated that they had used cannabis in place of other prescription drugs. The most common reasons that the study’s participants gave for deciding to substitute with medical cannabis were better symptom management, reduced negative side effects, and less potential for withdrawal symptoms when using cannabis. Another study, conducted across three New England dispensaries, found that participants reported a 42% reduction in alcohol consumption and an eye-popping 76% reduction in opioid use. Three studies from Canada reported that participants substituted medical cannabis for alcohol at a rate of 25-52%. Further, I saw data that showed that alcohol consumption decreased significantly in states with legalized medical cannabis. Indeed, one study that looked at alcohol sales over a ten-year period saw monthly alcohol sales drop by approximately 15% following legalization. Binge drinking has also seen a decline in states with legal cannabis; seeing binge drinking rates falls 11% below the averages in staters without legal cannabis.
From my research, it became clear to me that I could use medical cannabis for a dual purpose. First, I could use medical cannabis to treat my pain and old football injuries. And, second, I could use medical cannabis in place of alcohol and to reduce the anxiety and depression that intensified with my alcohol consumption. After qualifying for my medical card, I began using medical cannabis to treat both my qualifying condition (pain) and to completely replace my alcohol intake. While it was initially difficult for me to interact socially without a drink in my hand, I found that over time things began to change in a profound way. I found myself feeling not only the benefits that come with not drinking but also those benefits that come along with treating my qualifying condition with medical cannabis. The medical cannabis also helped immensely with the anxiety and depression that I have battled with for most of my life.
As time wore on, I no longer found an interest in alcohol. Most of the anxiety and depression that I experienced around alcohol lessened (as did the generalized anxiety and depression that I experience). I was no longer wasting my Saturday or Sunday mornings being hungover. Similarly, I did not have to experience any regretful flashbacks of things I may have done the night before. Instead, I was waking up refreshed and without any guilt. My pain also improved, and I was seeing the many benefits that medical cannabis was having on my mental health. It was as if medical cannabis had rescued me from alcohol and the life that I had lived since I was in college. I will remain forever grateful to medical cannabis and the ways in which it has forever changed my life.
– J.D. Lauritzen (Leafy Lawyer) is currently holding the position of Legal Consult at WholesomeCo Cannabis based in Utah.
