That’s being suggested by Cowan & Co., an investment banker, which says reported binge drinking rates were 9% lower than the national average in states in which use of cannabis is legal for adults and 11% below in states in which cannabis isn’t legal.
Newly added states such as California and Nevada currently have higher rates of binge drinking intensity and lower levels of cannabis consumption. So, Cowen said, it is reasonable to assume that as more states legalize adult-use cannabis, the alcohol binge drinking rates will begin to falter.
The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention estimated that 17% of the U.S. population engaged in binge drinking, meaning that 1 in 6 reported doing so four or more times a month.
In states that legalized adult use, the number of binge drinking sessions per month was 9% below the national average. Many millennials have opted to consume cannabis over drinking alcohol. They believe consuming cannabis rather than alcohol saves money and doesn’t cause the intoxicating effects of alcohol.
A Yahoo News poll in 2017 found the majority of the 55 million recreational marijuana users in the U.S. are millennials. Meanwhile, a national survey conducted by the Monitoring the Future Study uncovered that the share of college students drinking alcohol daily fell from 4.3% in 2016 to 2.2% in 2017.