A team of Brown University researchers conducted a study in which participants were given marijuana joints to smoke and then sent out to a controlled “bar lab”, in which they then were given the choice to have up to eight mini alcoholic beverages. The experiment was conducted three separate times: once with 7.2% THC cannabis, once with 3.1% THC cannabis and once with 0.03% THC cannabis, which was considered a placebo. A major component of the study was the replication of a real-life bar, complete with dark lighting and drinks on tap. The results revealed that participants’ alcohol consumption fell by 19% after smoking cannabis with 3.1% THC. The drop was even more significant after smoking the higher-potency 7.2% THC cannabis – participants ended up drinking 27% less alcohol than the placebo.