Numerous studies have linked state-level marijuana legalization to reduced alcohol use, but new federally funded research conducted by state officials in Oregon is shedding light on how access to cannabis retailers specifically is an important factor underlying the trend.

Researchers at Oregon State University and the Oregon Public Health Division sought to further investigate the association, analyzing data on rates of marijuana use and heavy alcohol consumption in areas of the state with varying levels of retail access from January 2014 to December 2022.

The research paper, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine this month, found that “odds of heavy alcohol use were lower with greater cannabis retail access, primarily among 21-24 and 65+ year olds”—”consistent with a substitution hypothesis” where people choose marijuana instead of drinking.

That’s consistent with a significant body of studies and surveys indicating that marijuana is increasingly being used as a substitute for alcohol, particularly in states where the plant is legally available.

The study, which was partially funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), also showed that adults who lived in areas with readily available access to marijuana dispensaries were more likely to report past-month cannabis use than in the pre-market era.

“Odds of frequent cannabis use also increased with greater retail access,” the authors wrote, adding that the association was true of each adult age demographic except those 18-20, who are age-gated from buying marijuana for adult use.

“Research on the mechanisms by which retail density and proximity effects occur for early to middle aged adults would inform state and local policies aimed at preventing cannabis misuse,” the authors said. “For older (65+ years) adults the net public health impacts of retail access-related increases in cannabis use are less clear given the associated decreases in their heavy alcohol use.”

While there’s been much research focusing on marijuana use trends among youth in states with and without regulated cannabis markets, this study “considered the implications that cannabis retail availability may have for early, middle, and older adults.”

“Early adulthood is a critical developmental period in which to study substance use and misuse, and therefore cannabis policy effects,” the researchers said.

The study, which is based on data extracted from the state’s the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), involved 61,581 people who participated in surveys on their alcohol use and a subset of 38,243 people who shared information about their cannabis consumption.

“Greater access to retail cannabis is a modifiable community-level risk factor for cannabis use and frequent use across subgroups of Oregon adults ages 21 years and older,” the study says. “Retail access can be regulated through an array of approaches and enacted at any level of government.”

With respect to the alcohol consumption trends observed in the study, the findings seem to comport with a poll released earlier this month that found a majority of Americans believe marijuana represents a “healthier option” than alcohol—and most also expect cannabis to be legal in all 50 states within the next five years.

Last month, another poll showed that a majority of Americans don’t consider marijuana dangerous, though most do think consuming cannabis increases the likelihood that people will transition to using more dangerous drugs.

State AGs ask Congress to recriminalize hemp; NJ gov candidate’s marijuana plans; FL medical cannabis patient gun rights case paused; OH expungements

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/ TOP THINGS TO KNOW

Colombian President Gustavo Petro said President Donald Trump should “‘legalize the export of cannabis” just like “any good” amid a tense dispute between the two leaders over the U.S.’s military strikes against alleged drug boats.

A bipartisan coalition of 39 state and territory attorneys general sent a letter calling on Congress to “ensure intoxicating THC products are taken off the market”—claiming that “nonintoxicating hemp is used to make Frankenstein THC products that get adults high and harm and even kill children.”

New Jersey Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mikie Sherrill previewed her priorities for marijuana policy if voters elect her next week—stressing the need for “better regulations” to prevent youth access to THC products, effectively distributing tax revenue and addressing the lack of legal home grow.

A Florida federal judge granted the Trump administration Department of Justice’s request to pause proceedings in a case challenging the ban on gun possession by medical cannabis patients pending the resolution of a similar case before the Supreme Court.

The Ohio House of Representatives passed a marijuana bill that would create a process for expunging past convictions—but would not automatically do so and would require people to apply and pay a fee.

The Kansas legislature’s Joint Committee on Kansas Security and the state’s top law enforcement official discussed the legality of intoxicating hemp products at a hearing.

/ FEDERAL

The Food and Drug Administration awarded a priority voucher to establish a domestic supply of ketamine.

Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) reportedly failed to disclose her ownership of stock in marijuana and other businesses.

/ STATES

California’s attorney general announced the eradication of 774,829 illegally cultivated cannabis plants and 106,141 pounds of processed marijuana, as well as 282 arrests in 36 different counties across the state.

The Pennsylvania House Majority Policy Committee called out Senate Republicans for stalling action on marijuana legalization.

An Ohio judge extended an order blocking Gov. Mike DeWine’s (R) executive order banning the sales of intoxicating hemp products.

The Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics is being sued by medical cannabis growers who allege unfair treatment.

Virginia regulators are partnering on an online medical cannabis training course for healthcare practitioners.

Minnesota regulators sent tips about lower-potency hemp edible license applications.

Michigan regulators posted additional content to a marijuana video library.

New York regulators will host an event on career opportunities for veterans in the cannabis industry on Tuesday.

—
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—

/ INTERNATIONAL

Canada’s Supreme Court upheld protections in the country’s Good Samaritan Drug Overdose Act ensuring that people who call 911 during an overdose will not face arrest for simple drug possession.

/ SCIENCE & HEALTH

A study found that “cannabidiol attenuates heroin seeking in male rats.”

A review concluded that “psilocybin administration produces both functional and structural brain changes, inducing neurogenesis and modulating dominant brain circuits associated with cognitive rigidity” and that “these effects lead to improvements in depression and anxiety scales.”

/ ADVOCACY, OPINION & ANALYSIS

The ACLU of Pennsylvania, Students for Sensible Drug Policy and other organizations are pushing Pennsylvania lawmakers to legalize marijuana.

The California Cannabis Operators Association published a guide on a newly enacted state hemp law.

/ BUSINESS

CULTA has a new CEO.

The Boston Beer Company launched a new line of cocktail-inspired THC gummies in Canada.

Cresco Labs is seeking to dismiss a lawsuit claiming that it mislabeled products to skirt THC potency limits.

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For all the talk about potency, yield, and branding, the real revolution in cannabis is happening underground—in the living soil. Dig your hands into it and you’ll feel it breathing: earthworms tunneling, mycelium threading through humus, microbes trading nutrients like a microscopic marketplace. This is where the plant’s magic begins.

“Living soil” isn’t a buzzword; it’s a rebellion. As the legal industry chases sterile perfection through hydroponics and chemical control, a growing movement of cultivators is going back to the dirt—not out of nostalgia, but necessity. In their eyes, saving the plant means saving the planet.

What Is Living Soil?

At its simplest, living soil is exactly what it sounds like: soil that’s alive. It’s a self-sustaining ecosystem rich with fungi, bacteria, protozoa, nematodes, and organic matter, all cycling nutrients to the plant in exchange for root exudates (the sugars the plant feeds them).

Dr. Elaine Ingham, a pioneering soil microbiologist and founder of the Soil Food Web School, describes healthy soil as operating like a “nutrient banking system” —microbes store and release elements as the plant demands. Her Soil Food Web approach is used by growers who want to restore soil biology rather than override it.

In cannabis cultivation, that relationship is everything. When soil is thriving, plants develop deeper terpene profiles, stronger immune systems, and richer cannabinoid expressions. Living soil doesn’t just grow cannabis. It grows the complexity that makes cannabis cannabis.

The Cannabis Soil Rebellion

The industrialization of legal cannabis has come with a price: uniformity. Across North America, massive hydroponic facilities dominate headlines with LED wattage, square footage, and quarterly yields. Yet for all their gleaming technology, something essential gets lost—the character of the plant.

In contrast, small-scale legacy growers from Northern California’s Emerald Triangle to forests of Maine and Oregon are leading what they call the “soil rebellion.” These cultivators aren’t anti-progress; they’re anti-sterility. Their farms hum with compost-tea brewers instead of air conditioners. Their grow rooms smell of earth, not disinfectant.

To them, living soil is a statement of resistance—a middle finger to the corporate model that treats cannabis like a commodity instead of a culture. They’re not chasing uniformity; they’re chasing vitality.

The Environmental Stakes

Industrial cannabis is quietly becoming one of the most energy-hungry crops in North America. A major study in Nature Sustainability found that indoor cannabis cultivation can generate between 2,283 and 5,184 kilograms of CO₂-equivalent per kilogram of dried flower, largely driven by lighting, HVAC, and environmental control systems.

In some reporting, that’s framed as equivalent to growing one ounce of cannabis indoors having the same emissions as burning 7–16 gallons of gasoline, depending on location.

By contrast, sun-grown and living-soil operations drastically reduce that footprint. No artificial lighting. No chemical runoff. No wasted nutrients. Instead, cultivators build closed-loop systems: composting leftover plant material, capturing rainwater, and encouraging biodiversity that manages pests naturally.

As the planet warms, the cannabis industry faces a choice. Either double down on energy-intensive “clean rooms,” or return to the soil systems that sustained the plant for millennia. The growers choosing the latter aren’t Luddites; they’re the real innovators.

Microbes, Mycelium, and Medicine

Living soil isn’t just an environmental win—it’s an alchemical one. Beneath the surface, a web of mycorrhizal fungi extends far beyond the roots, exchanging minerals for sugars and transmitting chemical signals between plants. It’s the internet of the earth, and cannabis thrives in that connectivity.

Terpenes, the aromatic compounds that define each strain’s scent and therapeutic profile, are heavily influenced by soil biology. Plants grown in biologically active soils often show higher terpene diversity and potency than those grown in sterile hydro systems. (See studies in Frontiers in Plant Science and other journals correlating soil microbial diversity with improved secondary metabolites.)

The rhizosphere—the narrow soil layer immediately surrounding the roots—is where most of that chemical exchange happens. Roots exude sugars and organic acids that feed microbes, which in turn break down nutrients and make them available to the plant.

In short, the microbes matter. When cultivators nurture the unseen world underfoot, they’re amplifying not just yield but medicine, but producing flower that’s chemically richer, more aromatic, and more effective for the end user.

Farmers as the New Counterculture

It’s tempting to view the living-soil movement as a trend, but talk to the people building compost piles at midnight or experimenting with Korean natural farming techniques, and you’ll hear a different tone: one of defiance.

These are farmers who see themselves as stewards, not suppliers. They reject synthetic control because it mirrors the same top-down systems that outlawed cannabis in the first place. Living soil, to them, is a political act. An assertion of autonomy and connection in an industry increasingly run by spreadsheets.

This isn’t hippie nostalgia. It’s a science-backed rebellion with cultural roots stretching to the earliest cannabis communities. The living-soil movement echoes the same anti-establishment ethos that made cannabis a symbol of resistance in the 1960s and ’70s. Only now, the battleground isn’t in the streets—it’s beneath our feet.

The Return to the Roots

Every few years, the cannabis industry reinvents its buzzwords: “craft,” “premium,” “sustainable.” But the growers working in living soil aren’t selling trends; they’re rebuilding relationships. To them, soil is sacred. It’s the link between plant, person, and planet. It’s a partnership that industrial models can’t replicate.

And maybe that’s the real message of living soil. Beneath the debates over legalization, taxes, and potency lies a simple truth: what we grow reflects how we live. If we cultivate sterile, extractive systems, we’ll get sterile, extractive results. But when we nurture life—in the soil, in our communities, in our politics—we harvest something far more powerful.

The next revolution in cannabis isn’t coming from boardrooms or branding agencies. It’s already happening in the ground—quiet, humble, unstoppable.