The authors caution that while these findings are predictive—meaning couples who smoke are less likely to commit domestic violence—they don’t necessarily draw a causal line between the two behaviors. Among the connections they hypothesize, “marijuana may increase positive affect, which in turn could reduce the likelihood of conflict and aggression.” Translation: stoned people are happy, and happy people don’t fight.

Another possible mechanism: “chronic [marijuana] users exhibit blunted emotional reaction to threat stimuli, which may also decrease the likelihood of aggressive behavior.”

Since some of the data used in the study is now nearly two decades old, the authors would like to see if these findings would hold true among current newlyweds, particularly in light of “the trend toward marijuana decriminalization in the United States and potentially more positive attitudes toward its use.”