Can Marijuana Help With Alcohol Use Disorder?

You’ve tried quitting cold turkey.

You’ve tried rehab, 12-step programs, and counseling.

But nothing works. You still keep picking up the bottle.

In an earlier post, we looked at what research says about marijuana and opioid addiction. For alcohol, the research answer is short: we found no trial showing cannabis treats alcohol use disorder, and quitting heavy drinking needs medical support because withdrawal can be life-threatening.

So what about using marijuana to treat alcoholism?

Some people argue that you’re just switching one drug for another, and that concern deserves a real answer.

That concern is fair: marijuana is a drug. Marijuana is studied for some medical uses, but FDA has not approved it to treat alcohol use disorder.

That’s why we want to explore the idea of using marijuana to treat alcoholism. Based on the research so far, swapping alcohol for cannabis is not a proven route to recovery: the treatments NIAAA describes do not include cannabis, and cannabis carries its own risk of addiction.

Wanting to Quit, but Still Can’t Quit

One of the first steps to beating alcoholism is knowing you have a problem.

But just because you know it’s a problem and you want to stop doesn’t make it easy to do. When you’re addicted to something, your body depends on that substance in order to function normally.

Dependence can continue even when drinking is causing serious harm.

It’s not that an alcoholic doesn’t truly want to quit; it’s that they feel physically unable to.

And the withdrawal symptoms can be quite serious.

What are The Symptoms of Alcohol Withdrawal?

• Shaky hands
• Sweating
• Anxiety or nervousness
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Headache
• Insomnia
• Irritability and mood swings

What is Alcohol Withdrawal Syndrome?

Alcohol withdrawal can quickly become life-threatening, so get medical help when you stop drinking heavily. Severe symptoms include:

• Disorientation, confusion
• Agitation and irritability
• Seeing or feeling things that are not there (hallucinations)
• Heavy sweating
• Seizures
• High blood pressure
• Rapid and irregular heartbeat
• Severe tremors
• Fever

Can Marijuana Help With Alcohol Withdrawal Symptoms?

No trial we found shows that cannabis eases alcohol withdrawal, and MedlinePlus says withdrawal needs medical care. Some people with alcohol use disorder have written publicly about trying cannabis after other treatments did not keep them from drinking. Drinking that harms family life, work or school is one of the signs of alcohol use disorder NIAAA lists.

Setbacks are common in recovery: NIAAA notes that many people try more than once to quit or cut back before it lasts.

Some then try other approaches, cannabis among them.

Personal accounts of switching to cannabis are not evidence that it treats alcohol use disorder, so treatment with medical support is worth discussing with your doctor.

Here is what other reports and studies say:

• A 2009 survey of 350 medical cannabis patients at a Berkeley dispensary found 40% had used cannabis as a substitute for alcohol; it did not measure whether drinking problems improved.
• Online forums carry personal stories of using marijuana to cut down on drinking, but forum posts are not medical evidence.
• Claims that legalization reduces alcoholism come from state-level population data, which cannot show that cannabis treats alcoholism in any one person.

Wait a Minute: Isn’t That Just Replacing One Substance With Another?

Both marijuana and alcohol alter your mind, but they affect the mind and body in different ways.

The idea that alcoholics should avoid ALL mind-altering substances is known as the abstinence model. Alcoholics Anonymous and other rehab programs use this model. NIAAA lists mutual-support groups such as AA among the options for alcohol problems.

But here’s a fact many people don’t know: a 2020 Cochrane review of 27 studies with 10,565 people found that AA and twelve-step facilitation helped people stay abstinent as well as, or better than, other established treatments.

If one of these programs works for you, keep going. No single approach works for everyone, and NIAAA notes that three FDA-approved medicines can also help people stop or cut back on drinking.

And if you’ve tried one of these programs, and it didn’t work, it doesn’t mean that there’s something wrong with you.

It just means you might need a different approach.

The Abstinence Model V.S. the Harm Reduction Model

There’s another approach to addiction treatment: It’s called harm reduction.

Harm reduction argues that, despite society’s best efforts, people are going to use both legal and illegal drugs. Rather than condemning or ignoring the problem, harm reduction tries instead to reduce the damage that drug users cause themselves and others.

Some people describe cannabis use as harm reduction, but we found no trial showing cannabis eases alcohol withdrawal, which can be life-threatening and needs medical care.

Here’s the bottom line: alcohol can kill you. CDC says excessive alcohol use caused about 178,000 deaths each year in 2020 and 2021.

Cannabis has serious risks of its own: CDC links it to psychosis in some users and to depression, and it can lead to cannabis use disorder.

The gap between heavy binge drinking and total abstinence is huge. If you drink heavily, stopping suddenly can bring severe withdrawal, so cut back or quit with medical support, not by swapping in cannabis.

Check out this video to learn more about harm reduction and how it can help people struggling with addiction.

Marijuana and Alcoholism: Final Thoughts

• Again, we’re not saying that 12-step programs don’t work, or that you shouldn’t consider traditional forms of treatment. You should use every tool at your disposal to help you beat your addiction. Cannabis is not an approved tool for alcohol use disorder, so lean on treatments with evidence behind them.
• Cannabis is not a “magic bullet,” and we found no trial showing it treats alcohol use disorder, so talk with your doctor or therapist before making any change. He or she needs to be able to observe your progress and warn you of any potential risks.
• Alcohol use disorder is not a listed qualifying condition under Florida’s medical marijuana law. Some people drink because of an underlying condition such as PTSD, which Florida lists; chronic pain counts when a qualifying condition causes it or it originates from one.

If you live in Florida and have a qualifying condition, you can book an in-person evaluation with our doctor online to see whether you can be certified. Nevada readers can compare that state’s medical and adult-use rules, including the 10% retail excise tax that medical sales to a cardholder skip, in our Nevada post.

Last updated October 15, 2026 by the Dr. Green Relief Editorial Team.

Sources

• MedlinePlus, Alcohol withdrawal
• National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Treatment for Alcohol Problems: Finding and Getting Help
• Kelly JF et al. Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12-step programs for alcohol use disorder. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2020 (PubMed)
• Reiman A. Cannabis as a substitute for alcohol and other drugs. Harm Reduct J. 2009 (PubMed)
• Florida Statutes s. 381.986 (2026), Medical use of marijuana
• Nevada Revised Statutes chapter 372A, Taxation of Controlled Substances and Cannabis