Marijuana's Contribution to a Decrease in Binge Drinking

In the past five years, rates of drinking at Frostburg State University have dropped significantly. Dr. Jonathan Gibralter, who recently departed his position as President of FSU to assume presidency at Wells College, has been attributed locally and nationally as a martyr for decreasing binge drinking rates within the campus community. However, there are greater questions regarding the approximate 10% drop in drinking, including the growing use of marijuana by college students. 

Monitoring the Future, an ongoing study released by the University of Michigan, compares use of all drugs, from alcohol and marijuana to ecstasy or cocaine, from the 1980s to their most recently released study in 2014. The research indicates that “among college students, annual prevalence was 34% in 2014, up from 30% in 2006.” Overall, marijuana use has risen from 3.5% in 2007 to 5.9% in 2014.

The statistics reflect, in part, the push from college students to legalize marijuana. The Pew Research Center released a 2015 study indicating that 68% of the Millennial generation support the legalization of marijuana. More of the college aged generation are beginning to use marijuana.

Don Swogger, SAFE Office director and advisor for the BURG Peer Education Network at FSU, feels as though the rise in marijuana use will ultimately cause binge drinking rates to rise again.

“We knew before we administered the CORE data survey that marijuana rates were going up,” Swogger says, “they did indeed go up by 10%...I think that if we don't get a handle on the marijuana use rates, we'll see some more significant hikes in that, and I think that ultimately it will impede upon the binge drinking rate again. So that's projection, and I'm hopeful that we can kinda do something across the state to not have another big jump the next time that we do CORE data.” Swogger attributes the increase of marijuana use to the recent decriminalization of marijuana in Maryland.

But research shows that as alcohol use goes down, marijuana use rises. Pew Research indicates that 69% of Americans find alcohol more dangerous and harmful than marijuana. At Frostburg State University, ex-President Dr. Jonathan Gibralter spent his term becoming a nationally recognized leader for decreasing binge drinking in college students. 

Gibralter spent years studying and preaching about the negatives of alcohol use, but marijuana never entered the dialogue. The efforts put in to curb the amount of alcohol obtained by becomes more difficult for underage students to get ahold of, marijuana seems to be easier to obtain. 

Without taking a handle on the growing use of marijuana in college students, there could be an effect on alcohol. Alex Good of the University of Notre Dame, conducted a study in conjunction with Dr. William Evans of the Department of Economics regarding ties between marijuana and alcohol.

“The most obvious effects of legalization would be increased consumption and availability of marijuana along with higher state tax revenues, but there could be other unintended consequences,” Evans writes. These consequences include the decrease in alcohol consumption in minors, due to the more readily available marijuana.

By Katie O'Neill, with contributions from Taylor Whiteman