Most people experience stressful events in their lives, such as accidents, assault or life-threatening illness. This study assesses relations between stressful life events, analytical thinking (i.e., in-depth processing of information), and beliefs about whether substance use is acceptable, including both legal (e.g., alcohol) and illegal (e.g., opiates) substances. Participants were 121 undergraduates (mean age = 22.75; 78% female, 93% Caucasian) who completed online surveys. Preliminary analyses indicated that older participants experienced more stressful life events (r = .34, p = .000); therefore, all analyses controlled for age. Partial correlations indicated that a greater number of stressful events was related to less analytical thinking (r = -.20, p = .029) and more acceptance of substance use (r = .24, p = .009). By contrast, more analytical thinking was related to less acceptance of substance use (r = -.27, p = .003). Taken together, these findings support the notion that stressful life events may have a negative impact on analytical thinking and may lead to increased acceptance of substance use. Increasing individuals’ ability to think analytically may be one way to reduce acceptance of substance use, which in turn, may help reduce the opioid epidemic currently plaguing our society.