Will people forsake booze for legal weed?

Antonella Artuso

Will a culture so tied to alcohol switch allegiance once recreational cannabis is readily and legally available?

A recent study out of the University of Connecticut looked at alcohol sales in jurisdictions with medical marijuana, and found the two substances to be substitutes, with monthly booze sales falling 13%.

A 2016 Deloitte study predicted some alcohol consumers will migrate to legal recreational marijuana.

Dan Malleck, associate professor in Health Sciences at Brock University, said the U.S. study looked at medical marijuana, and the findings suggest that people are switching if they’re using alcohol to self-medicate for conditions like stress.

However, societies have been developing symbols around alcohol consumption for thousands of years, he said.

”So raising a glass or buying rounds, or things like that, are just not something that has a parallel within cannabis consumption,” Malleck said. “Cannabis is about sharing the joint or sitting around in a room smoking and talking. It’s got it’s own culture with it and, I think, that is partly because of the way it’s consumed and partly because of the I guess surreptitiousness around how it had to be consumed under prohibition.

“But I don’t think that we will see it replacing like ‘raising a glass.’”

The Ontario government is certainly not concerned about any impact on alcohol sales.

Asked if his ministry has evaluated any potential changes to alcohol revenues in a legal pot world, a spokesperson for Finance Minister Charles Sousa replied succinctly – “no.”

Of course, the fact that the Ontario government has full control of both alcohol and cannabis sales in the province ensures it wins whichever way the consumer bends.

The 2017 Ontario budget projects “stronger overall performance” from the LCBO, even without its expansion into selling recreational marijuana.

Marijuana use is usually viewed from a public health point of view as less dangerous than alcohol, Malleck said.

It doesn’t tend to lead to binging or other negative behaviours associated with alcohol use, he said.

“People who smoke weed in general tend to be less violent, less rowdy, sitting around giggling,” he said.

Under the legalization framework, though, recreational pot cannot be consumed in public places like bars.

Also, from a law and order perspective, the technology to detect drug impaired driving is not as sophisticated as that aimed at drunk drivers, he said.

Malleck said he would have supported selling recreational marijuana at regular LCBO stores but some citizens and “histrionic” public health types objected.

“It’s like a legitimate high versus what some people still see as an illegitimate high in cannabis,” Malleck said.