Is Marijuana The Much Needed Alternative Of Alcohol?
In a recent it was highlighted that usage of marijuana for recreational purposes has led to a decline in the consumption of alcohol and further discouragement towards alcohol abuse. However, it also brought out that the pot wasn’t able to reduce the interest of tobacco smokers towards cigarettes and other tobacco products.
With this study, it could be estimated that the alcohol industry could suffer major blows if the trend continues to follow. The research published in the journal Marketing Science also disclosed that with the legalisation of marijuana, there’s even a decline in its usage among the youngsters.
Post marijuana legalisation, the study found that whereas adults were more interested in the plant and increased its web search by 17 per cent, young people discouraged the cannabis and saw a decline in its search results.
Further, it reveals that although post-legalisation of marijuana there has been a decline of 11 per cent in the online search results for alcohol products, on the other hand, there has been an 8 per cent increase in the search results of tobacco-related products.
Image Credit – Marketing Science
As per other reports, while the current Indian alcohol industry stands at 11 billion dollars, the alcohol industry is estimated at 35 billion dollars. And if India witnesses legalisation of marijuana this swing in the consumption of both these products can spectate a major change.
The study conducted by Pengyuan Wang and was co-authored by Guiyang Xiong of Syracuse University took count of anonymous data of 28 million web searches and 120 million online advertisement impressions from a leading global web portal between January 2014 and April 2017.
In a press release, author Wang stated, “Contrary to widely held public concern after recreational cannabis is legalized, teenagers appear to lose interest, rather than gain interest.” Further urging the government to reconsider the demand of its legalisation, he said, “Policymakers only concerned with an uptick in teen users, may want to rethink their stance.”
India is yet to witness legalisation of marijuana and this study will further promote the policymakers to reconsider the demand. Alcohol abuse has always been a major problem throughout the country and has already faced a ban in states of Bihar, Gujarat, Nagaland, and Mizoram, yet is still the most popular product for recreation without any legal alternative which further invites serious issues related to it.
