A clinical trial published in The American Journal of Psychiatry reports that THC can sharply reduce alcohol consumption among heavy drinkers, even after just a single smoking session.
For the study, researchers from the Brown University School of Public Health and McMaster University recruited 157 adults who regularly drank heavily and used marijuana at least twice a week. After an overnight break from marijuana, each participant attended three laboratory sessions where they smoked a cannabis cigarette containing either 7.2% THC, 3.1% THC, or a placebo with almost no THC. They were then exposed to neutral cues and personalized alcohol cues before completing a self-administration task that measured how much alcohol they chose to drink.
The study found that THC did not meaningfully change scores on the Alcohol Craving Questionnaire, but it did reduce the immediate urge to drink among those who smoked the 7.2% THC cigarette. More notably, THC decreased actual drinking. Participants given 3.1% THC consumed 19% less alcohol, while those given 7.2% THC drank 27% less, compared to the placebo group.
The findings indicate that THC may acutely lower alcohol intake in people who regularly use both substances, suggesting potential value in future alcohol treatment research. Further controlled studies involving additional cannabinoids are recommended to determine how marijuana-based interventions could fit into clinical guidelines for alcohol use disorder.
More articles from The Marijuana Herald can be found below.
