Transcendental Meditation has consistently been found to reduce the use of tobacco, alcohol, and non-prescribed drugs in a wide variety of settings and populations [51-54, 190, 230, 276, 303-320]. A systematic review and meta-analysis of 198 studies (including 19 on TM) found that Transcendental Meditation produced marked, sustained, and highly significant reductions in smoking, alcohol consumption, and illicit drug use, with larger effects than other treatments including standard therapies, other forms of meditation, relaxation training, educational programmes, anxiety management, counselling to counteract peer pressure, biofeedback, hypnosis, acupuncture and sensory deprivation [51].
Over an 18-24 month period, abstinence ranged from 51% to 89% for people practising Transcendental Meditation, compared to 21% for good conventional substance abuse programmes. In contrast to high early relapse rates with standard programmes, reductions in smoking and alcohol consumption with TM increased gradually over time, while initial marked reductions in illicit drug use were sustained [51]. Overall, research in this area indicates that the longer individuals practise Transcendental Meditation, the more likely it is that they will stop or markedly reduce smoking, alcohol consumption, or drug abuse [51, 54].
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