Why should we have to ask Binge Drinkers if they smoke cannabis
Abstract
Studies focusing on college students’ consumptions of psycho-active substance and their consequences have mainly focused on alcohol use and more recently on binge drinking (BD). Distinct BD patterns associated with specific psychological profiles have been identified (Lannoy et al., 2017; Gierski et al., 2018). Based on its effects on various psychological parameters, cannabis use, which frequently co-occurs with BD, may modulate these differentiated psychological profiles. Further, in contrast to the wide evidence of neuropsycholo-gical deficits associated with the use of cannabis or alcohol separately, few studies have investigated the risk of alcohol use disorder and neuropsychological deficits related to the combined consumption of alcohol and cannabis. The aims of the present study were to examine the effect of cannabis on (1) the risk for alcohol use disorder and (2) the neuro-psychological deficits observed in bingers. First, students of the University of Caen consuming alcohol and/or cannabis were screened through an internet survey-based study focu-sing on alcohol and cannabis experiences. Results showed that compared to bingers, students who both binged and smoked cannabis had an earlier onset of alcohol consump-tion, drank more and were more at risk of alcohol use disor-der. Motivation and socio-normative parameters associated with alcohol consumption were significantly higher in this group than in binge drinkers who did not smoke cannabis. The neuropsychological evaluation revealed that compared to bingers, students who binged and smoked cannabis had more severe neuropsychological impairments, especially for episo-dic memory. These results suggest that cannabis consumption associated with BD is a risk factor for alcohol use disorder and episodic memory deficits. Those findings reinforce the idea that BD prevention programs may gain efficacy if consi-dering its frequent combination with cannabis.