DOCTORS’ NOTES
PHOTOGRAPY:( TOP) I STOCK / GETTY IMAGES PLUS / WILD PIXEL( RIGHT): NICK DENTAMARO
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“ Instead of seeing cannabis increase craving and drinking, we saw the opposite,” says Jane Metrik, PhD, a professor of behavioral and social sciences and of psychiatry and human behavior.“ Cannabis reduced the urge for alcohol in the moment, lowered how much alcohol people consumed over a two-hour period, and even delayed when they started drinking once the alcohol was available.”
Excessive drinking is the third leading cause of preventable death in the United States. Cannabis use often overlaps with alcohol problems, with about 60 percent of people with cannabis use disorder also meeting criteria for alcohol use disorder.
The trial included 157 adults, ages 21 to 44, who drink heavily and use cannabis at least twice a week. Over three separate lab visits, each participant smoked cannabis cigarettes containing lower or higher levels of THC, the main psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, or a placebo. Then, in a room designed to resemble a bar, they were offered servings of their preferred alcoholic beverage and could choose either to drink or to earn small cash payments for each drink they declined.
The researchers found that participants who smoked the cannabis with THC drank less alcohol than when they smoked the placebo. They also reported less immediate urges to drink than when they smoked a placebo cigarette.
“ We saw that cannabis reduces the urge in the moment,” Metrik says.“ What we don’ t know from this study is what is the long-term effect.”
The researchers caution that the results of the study don’ t mean that cannabis should be recommended as a therapeutic substitute for alcohol. They also noted that it remains unclear whether real-world settings, where people drink socially or use higher-potency cannabis, would yield similar results. More study is warranted before cannabis can be considered a tool to help people cut back or stop drinking altogether.
“ Our job as researchers is to continue to answer these questions,” Metrik says.“ We can’ t tell anyone yet,‘ you should use cannabis as a substitute for problematic or heavy drinking.’”
Jane Metrik, right, led a randomized, placedo-controlled trial to test whether cannabis use directly changes alcohol consumption.
Bad Apples in the Bloodstream
Even a few mutated cells can significantly impact how blood cancers develop, study finds.
BY CORRIE PIKUL
A team of researchers led by a Brown University cancer biologist found that when they introduced mutated blood cancer cells into mice and tracked them over time, the cancer cells affected not only non-mutated cells, but also the entire blood-forming system.
The study, published in the journal Blood, showed that non-mutated blood-producing cells were impacted significantly by the presence of the cancer cells.
“ Even low numbers of mutated cancer cells profoundly affected the blood-producing system and bone homeostasis,” says senior study author Patrycja Dubielecka, PhD, an associate professor of medicine.“ We realized that there would be some impact of introducing the cancer cells, but the extent of how profoundly both the blood-forming system and bone biology have changed was absolutely stunning to see.”
The findings have implications for how blood cancers are treated, she adds. Currently, when these types of malignancies are found early in relatively young patients, the typical approach involves“ watchful waiting” and helping patients manage symptoms, Dubielecka says.
“ Based on our findings, this strategy needs to be revised,” she says.“ The moment that mutated blood cancer cells are detected in the system, the effort should really be directed toward shrinking the frequency of this clone that carries the mutation— because we know that over time this clone will induce significant damaging changes that will be difficult or even impossible to reverse.”
4 HEALTH DISCOVERIES @ BROWN l SPRING 2026