The Relationship between the Degree of Professed Religious Belief and Use of Drugs

A systematic examination of data from 4,853 respondents of various demographic characteristics revealed a powerful relationship between the degree of religious belief and consumption of alcohol and intake of psychotropics. In general, people who viewed themselves as ‘very religious’ drank less and used less psychoactives, when compared to those individuals who considered themselves ‘not religious at all.’ Significantly elevated use of alcohol, tobacco products, marijuana, hashish, and amphetamines was associated with the ‘not religious at all’ group.