Beginning of Cannabis Treatment - Decrease in Alcohol Consumption?

We know that using cannabis with high THC content triggers psychotic states. Combined with other drugs and alcohol, it can have truly fatal consequences. But what if we could treat alcohol addiction with cannabis? Will this treatment be effective? To what extent?

Cannabis as a Replacement for Other Drugs

The issue of alcohol resonates more frequently in our society, which means greater risk. Besides addressing alcohol harmfulness, it's also important to understand the reasons for drinking and its consumption frequency. An earlier study found that up to 53% of respondents drink alcohol regularly. On average, this was 2 days per week. A quarter of respondents reported smoking tobacco, averaging 9 cigarettes daily. Another 11% admitted to encountering cocaine or other drugs in the past month.
Reasons for alcohol consumption included 20% growing up in an alcoholic family, 16% early alcohol experiences, with remaining percentages unspecified. The study results are interesting because 40% of total respondents indicated replacing alcohol with cannabis. 26% replaced illegal drugs they couldn't access. And up to 65% used cannabis instead of prescribed medications.

Most Common Reasons for Drug Replacement with Cannabis

The most frequently mentioned include:

  • Cannabis has fewer side effects
  • Cannabis has lower withdrawal potential
  • Cannabis is more accessible
  • Cannabis is more acceptable than other drugs
  • Cannabis provides better symptom management
Cannabis and Alcohol
Many addicted individuals replace alcohol with cannabis

Treating Alcoholism with Medicinal Cannabis

The discovery that people replace other drugs with cannabis opens doors for experts to research whether cannabis treatment could be successful in combating alcoholism. Such therapy offers two immediate advantages:
  • Patients have the right to choose cannabis as a more effective option
  • Medicinal cannabis offers an alternative for those unwilling to give up psychoactive substances

To treat increased alcohol consumption with medicinal cannabis, cannabis must meet specific treatment rules. Chick and Nutt (2012) published criteria for substitution treatment:

1. It should reduce alcohol consumption and related damage.

2. Ideally, it should be less harmful than alcohol.

3. Abuse potential should be lower than alcohol.

4. It must prove it can replace alcohol and must not be used with alcohol.

5. It should be safer in case of overdose.

6. Ideally, it should not intensify alcohol effects, especially when medications are taken in excessive doses.

7. It should offer significant health economic benefits.

Experts also discussed how such replacement through cannabis treatment could minimize overall individual and societal survival damages.

Medicinal cannabis therapy reduces alcohol use

Can Cannabis Treatment Minimize Alcohol Use?

We'll draw conclusions from a professional foreign article confirming cannabis meets all 7 criteria to become an alcoholism substitution treatment:
  • Reduces alcohol consumption: supported by experts like Peters, Hughers, and Moore, among many others from past and present centuries.
  • Cannabis is less harmful than alcohol: Confirmation and research found in Nutt et al. (2007) publication
  • Cannabis usage disorders are less severe than alcoholism
  • Cannabis treatment can fully replace alcohol: currently researching whether replacing alcohol with cannabis can improve life quality
  • Cannabis is safer during overdose compared to alcohol
  • Cannabis doesn't tend to intensify alcohol effects
  • Cannabis treatment is economically more acceptable
Based on these points, it's highly likely that starting cannabis treatment truly leads to reduced and improved alcohol use. In states where medicinal cannabis is permitted, substitution cannabis treatment is frequently practiced. However, we lack sufficient research materials to provide a definitive answer about completely eliminating alcoholism through cannabis treatment. We can only confirm that cannabis is gentler and more beneficial to our organism than alcohol.