Alcohol or Marijuana: Which is Worse for Your Brain?
Facebook-f X-twitter Youtube Table of Contents One of the most common things people want to know is whether alcohol or marijuana is worse for your
Table of Contents
One of the most common things people want to know is whether alcohol or marijuana is worse for your brain and overall health. The brain-imaging work at Amen Clinics and recent research suggest that neither one is good for you.
Alcohol is not a health food, and marijuana is not an innocuous substance—it is a drug. But is one of them more damaging than the other?
At first glance, it might seem that alcohol does the most damage to our brain health and general well-being because it is more widely used. Over 84% of American adults say they’ve consumed alcohol at some point in their lives. And nearly 64% of Americans aged 12 and over say they’ve had a drink in the past year, as reported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA).
Compare that to just 19% of Americans, including young people, who said they used marijuana in 2019, according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC). Although not as widespread, the harmful effects of marijuana on the brain, including brain development, may be greater.
Let’s take a closer look at some of the worst consequences of drinking and marijuana.
Consequences of Drinking Alcohol
Chronic health conditions
Some of the leading causes of alcohol-related deaths are liver disease, heart disease (including heart attack), stroke, cancer, and high blood pressure.
Traffic fatalities
Statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Association (NHTSA) show that in the U.S., approximately 30% of all traffic accident deaths involve drunk driving. An estimated 32 Americans lose their lives each day in crashes where someone is driving drunk.
Alcohol use disorder
For some people, drinking leads to addiction, as 29.5 million people from the young age of 12 and up have an alcohol use disorder, according to the 2022 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSUDH). Addiction can impair a family environment and destroy relationships.
Binge drinking
Over 21% of American adults engaged in binge drinking in the past month, according to the NIAAA. Binge drinking is defined as consuming 5 or more drinks for men and 4 or more drinks for women within a span of about 2 hours.
Binge drinking leads to a litany of serious consequences, such as injuries, violence, risky sexual behavior, unwanted pregnancy, and more.
Reduced brain volume
Drinking alcohol, even just 1-7 drinks per week, is associated with brain shrinkage, according to a study in JAMA Neurology. A study published in the BMJ shows that having just 1-2 glasses of wine per day is associated with atrophy in the hippocampus, an area of the brain involved in mood, memory, and learning.
Heightened risk of dementia
Recent research suggests that people who are moderate to heavy drinkers are at a 57% increased risk of developing dementia. Brain SPECT scans of heavy drinkers evaluated at Amen Clinics show low blood flow in the brain, which is the #1 brain-imaging predictor that a person will develop Alzheimer’s disease.
Poor decision-making
Even in people who are light drinkers, consuming alcohol impacts brain function and can lead to bad decisions. When people drink, it lowers blood flow to the prefrontal cortex, which is involved in impulse control, judgment, the ability to solve problems, and forethought.
Normally, the brain builds connections when focused on these functions, but alcohol impairs this process and makes people more likely to say or do things that get you in trouble—relationship trouble, financial trouble, or legal trouble.
Depression and mental health issues
Some people use alcohol as a way to self-medicate symptoms from mental disorders, such as anxiety and depression. Although drinking may temporarily provide relief from of symptoms, it ultimately exacerbates depression, anxiety, and other mental health conditions.
Death
According to the NIAAA, over 178,000 deaths annually can be blamed on excessive alcohol use. This puts alcohol at #4 on the list of leading preventable causes of death in the U.S., just after tobacco, poor diet/physical inactivity, and illegal drugs.
Addiction and other mental health issues can't wait.
Adverse Brain Health Effects of Marijuana Use
How does marijuana affect the brain and body? Marijuana use is associated with a wide range of consequences. Some of the well-known physical health effects of marijuana include slowed motor skills as well as emphysema from exposure to marijuana smoke and other chemicals in cannabis.
How much marijuana a person uses can make a difference. Substance abuse, also known as substance use disorder, increases the risk of negative consequences and the severity of problems.
If you’ve been wondering, “Is weed bad for the brain?” take a look at the following research findings:
Traffic fatalities
A notable research study published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs found that traffic fatalities increased by 4% and accidents with injuries jumped by close to 6% in states that had legalized recreational marijuana.
Cannabis affects reaction time, judgment, and other critical brain functions, and high doses of cannabis products cause greater impairment.
Increased risk of depression and suicidality
Most people associate recreational use of marijuana with getting high and happy (or even to treat pain). However, a 2019 review in JAMA Psychiatry concluded that early exposure, including adolescent marijuana use, is associated with a higher risk of brain problems, such as depression, suicidal ideation, and suicide attempts.
Young adults and older folks who use cannabis regularly are also vulnerable to these mental health problems because of the effects of marijuana on the brain—even in those who might not have cannabis use disorder.
Fuels anxiety
According to a study in Neurology, more research suggests that some people who smoke marijuana (or ingest it) with higher levels of THC, the compound in the cannabis plant that causes the psychoactive effects in the brain, increased anxiousness is a common problem.
Makes you psychotic
Research in The Lancet Psychiatry about marijuana exposure shows that high-potency cannabis use may be responsible for 10% of new cases of psychosis.
Impairs memory
Using marijuana temporarily disrupts brain activity, including memory formation and puts you at risk for cognitive dysfunction later in life, according to research in JAMA Internal Medicine.
Researchers have found that THC (one of the most active ingredients) attaches to receptors in brain areas associated with memory, including the brain structure called the hippocampus.
Of course, heavy marijuana use and other factors can make that risk even higher. And, more research that was published in The American Journal of Psychiatry found that IQ points decreased in long-term heavy cannabis users compared to non-users.
Decreases brain health
In an Amen Clinics brain imaging study on the drivers of brain aging that was published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, cannabis abuse, especially cannabis use disorder—one of the most common types of drug abuse—was second only to schizophrenia in accelerating brain aging.
Schizophrenia was associated with 4 years of premature aging while cannabis substance abuse represented 2.8 years of accelerated aging. Clearly, stopping marijuana use can reduce this risk.
Alcohol abuse represented 0.6 years of accelerated aging and came in fifth on the list after bipolar disorder (1.6 years of accelerated aging) and ADD/ADHD (1.4 years of accelerated aging).
The Alcohol vs. Marijuana Conclusion
So which substance is worse? Alcohol has more far-reaching consequences because it is consumed by so many more people. However, marijuana users—including medical marijuana users—are at higher risk when it comes to the direct impact of cannabis on brain development and brain aging.
For obvious reasons, heavy marijuana use can lead to even worse brain health consequences. The bottom line in terms of brain health and cognitive impairment along with overall well-being, is to eliminate or reduce the use of both these substances.