Does Legalizing Marijuana Affect Alcohol and Other Drug Use?

About this episode:   New research examines the relationship between the legalization of medicinal or recreational cannabis and patterns of alcohol, tobacco, and opioid use. In this episode: Lead author of the study, Sarah Windle, explains what her team's systematic review, published in the Milbank Quarterly, can tell us about whether legal cannabis is being used to substitute or to complement other substances. Guest:  Sarah Windle, MPH, is a PhD student in epidemiology at McGill University. Host:  Dr. Josh Sharfstein is distinguished professor of the practice in Health Policy and Management, a pediatrician, and former secretary of Maryland's Health Department.  Show links and related content:  Impacts of Global Cannabis Policy Changes on Substance Use: A Systematic Review of Quasi-Experimental Studies—The Milbank Quarterly Here's how cannabis legalization affected tobacco, alcohol and opioid use: McGill study—CTV News The Hazy World of Cannabis Policy—Public Health On Call (February 2025) Transcript information: Looking for episode transcripts? Open our podcast on the Apple Podcasts app (desktop or mobile) or the Spotify mobile app to access an auto-generated transcript of any episode. Closed captioning is also available for every episode on our YouTube channel. You can also email [email protected] to request a transcript. AI disclosure (as of September 2026): The conversations you hear on the podcast are happening between real humans, and real humans are developing and researching episodes behind the scenes. In addition to real human audio engineers, Public Health On Call uses AI production tools to assist with the removal of filler words and improve audio quality. If you have any questions about our use of AI, please reach out to [email protected].  Contact us: Have a question about something you heard? Looking for a transcript? Want to suggest a topic or guest? Contact us via email or visit our website. Follow us: @‌PublicHealthPod on Bluesky @‌PublicHealthPod on Instagram @‌JohnsHopkinsSPH on Facebook @‌PublicHealthOnCall on YouTube Here's our RSS feed Note: These podcasts are a conversation between the participants, and do not represent the position of Johns Hopkins University.