A federally funded clinical study has found that marijuana use may significantly reduce alcohol cravings in people who drink heavily, offering a potential alternative approach to managing problematic alcohol use.
Published in the peer-reviewed journal Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, the research followed a group of adults who reported frequent binge drinking habits. Over the course of the study, participants who consumed cannabis were more likely to experience reduced urges to drink—and they drank less overall—compared to days when they did not use marijuana.
Researchers noted that the decrease in alcohol consumption was not due to cannabis replacing alcohol in a one-to-one fashion, but rather a dampening of alcohol cravings altogether. This suggests that marijuana may influence the neurological pathways linked to addiction and reward.
The study was backed by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), a rare example of federal funding supporting research that acknowledges potential benefits of cannabis use. Scientists emphasized that while marijuana is not a cure for alcohol use disorder, it may serve as a helpful harm reduction tool for those struggling to moderate their drinking.
This isn’t the first research to suggest a relationship between cannabis and alcohol use. Previous studies have shown that legal access to cannabis can lead to lower rates of binge drinking and alcohol-related hospitalizations. However, this new data adds controlled clinical insight to support those population-level trends.
The findings may also have implications for public health policies and addiction treatment models. As researchers continue to explore cannabis’s therapeutic applications, this study adds to the growing evidence that marijuana may serve as more than just a recreational substance—it could also be a pathway to healing.
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