Can Naltrexone Help With Marijuana Use Disorder?

In this week's article I'll be talking about naltrexone's effect on cannabis or marijuana. I'm going to dive into some of the research that's been done here, as well as share from my personal experience with taking naltrexone and marijuana.

Many people have been asking: 

• Will naltrexone work in the same way it does for alcohol for marijuana use disorder?
• Will naltrexone impact my marijuana use?
• Are there risks of using marijuana while on naltrexone? (I am going to share my personal experience with this.)

Will naltrexone work in the same way it does for alcohol, for marijuana use disorder?

Many studies have been done on naltrexone with alcohol that consistently show that naltrexone can help people drink less alcohol over time.

So will it do the same for marijuana?

In short the answer is yes – one study showed that targeted naltrexone can decrease an individual's use of marijuana in a similar way it does alcohol.

Here's some of the discoveries made in this study:

• Naltrexone significantly decreased self-administration of active cannabis relative to placebo. Participants in the placebo group had 7.6 times the odds of self-administering active cannabis compared with the naltrexone group
• Study participants also reported significantly lower ratings of ‘Good Effect' [from marijuana] compared with the placebo group
  • However, naltrexone did not significantly affect other subjective-effects ratings such as cannabis craving or ‘High' 
• Overall, ongoing use of naltrexone before consuming cannabis can reduce an individual's consumption because naltrexone reduces the direct reinforcing and positive subjective effects of cannabis

A couple of things I found interesting about this study:

1. Regarding timing of naltrexone, they had participants take naltrexone 45 minutes before consuming marijuana. If your goal is to cut back on your marijuana use, I wonder if it could be even more effective if they had them wait a little longer after taking naltrexone to consume 🤔 (ie, truly a Sinclair Method approach). This just me wondering, and NOT medical advice.
2. The study also showed that if an individual was not personally motivated to reduce their cannabis consumption – they would increase their usage outside of the laboratory environment (the same is definitely true with alcohol and the Sinclair Method!)

"...participants who were explicitly not interested in reducing their cannabis use, may have smoked more cannabis in their natural environment to overcome naltrexone's effects."

Will naltrexone impact my marijuana use?

According to this research, if naltrexone is taken in a targeted dose before consuming cannabis, it is likely have a similar effect as it does with alcohol.

The study showed that taking naltrexone would reduce the amount of self-administration of cannabis – so you may want to consume less if naltrexone is taken, and you may notice the "good effects" are not as prominent.

The study concluded that, 

"As with alcohol, naltrexone may reduce ongoing heavy cannabis use, relapse severity, or the likelihood that patients would return to pretreatment levels of heavy cannabis use in the event of a lapse."

Are there risks of using marijuana while on naltrexone? Here's my personal experience.

While there are no known risks to consuming marijuana while also using naltrexone, please talk to your doctor about any potential risks for you. Everyone is different!

I want to share what I learned from my personal experience using marijuana and naltrexone. 👇

I was consuming marijuana throughout my 10 year drinking period (however, I quit completely several years ago – more on that below). 

While I usually didn't consume marijuana daily, when I would consume it, often it would be with alcohol since I was a daily drinker.

When I was on TSM, sometimes I would consume marijuana on my alcohol-free days as a way to relax in the evening or help me fall asleep.

What I noticed this did for me over time is that I started to "substitute" alcohol for marijuana, and the "RISK" for me was that my brain was getting flooded with the pleasure from marijuana right after naltrexone had left my system. ⚠️

• Naltrexone was blocking the reward from alcohol when I drank...and that means it was also probably blocking it from marijuana if I consumed it while I was having a drinking session on naltrexone (at the time, I didn't realize naltrexone could have an impact on marijuana use).
• But then on alcohol-free days when naltrexone was out of my system (because I was only taking naltrexone before drinking, aka, the Sinclair Method), I would often consume marijuana.
• I think this quickly taught my brain to become habituated to the pleasure/reward from marijuana, since it was no longer getting the rewards from alcohol.
  • I was also seeking many other rewards and pleasures in life sans alcohol – and truly enjoying them – but I would often turn to marijuana as well. It was an "option" on my menu that quickly became my favorite go-to...like alcohol was.

For a several month period on TSM and even once I stopped drinking, I noticed my marijuana intake go up. It started to become a daily thing where it wasn't before....and I didn't like it.

My personal experience taking naltrexone before consuming marijuana

Before I understood that naltrexone could work for marijuana, I did try to have an "extinction session" one time with naltrexone and marijuana....mostly just as an experiment on myself.

So I took naltrexone, waited an hour and then consumed marijuana.

I do recall two things happening that evening:

1. I consumed far less marijuana. I only took a couple of puffs off of a vape pen – and when I would usually go back for more about an hour later, I didn't really want to, so I didn't.
2. The "high" effects weren't as good. They definitely felt blunted and less euphoric or exciting. Not bad, just not great.

I thought this was interesting and felt that maybe naltrexone does work on cannabis like it does for alcohol.

Then, shortly after that experience, I consumed way too much of a very strong cannabis oil one day (without naltrexone) that made me feel extremely paranoid and anxious. Cannabis had never really made me feel that way before, and it sort of scared me. 

I ended up quitting cannabis cold turkey after that (I think this was 2019?). I did consume it a few times after that, but just didn't enjoy it as much anymore so haven't really been interested in it since.

Perhaps the very negative experience I had with the cannabis oil was enough for me to not desire it anymore? 🤷‍♀️

Also, to be honest – I was ready to quit marijuana. I just wasn't happy with my relationship with it anymore. After getting free from alcohol through TSM, I no longer wanted to feel reliant on any substances to alter my mind. I preferred to be sober-minded. So while it was difficult, I was ready to let it go.

In conclusion

According to research, taking naltrexone before consuming marijuana may impact a person's usage and experience with it.

If I had a marijuana use disorder today and was struggling to reduce or quit, I would probably try using naltrexone before smoking. This medicine was life-changing at helping me get free from alcohol, and it appears to work on marijuana in a similar way.

A word of caution for people using the Sinclair Method

From my personal experience, if I were to ever caution anyone who is using naltrexone to cut back on alcohol following the Sinclair Method – I would just say be careful about "replacing" alcohol with marijuana – especially on your naltrexone-free days. I did this for a while and I could see how I began to form a marijuana use habit that I didn't like.

While I don't know it for certain, I do wonder if consuming cannabis on my alcohol-free days when naltrexone was just recently washed out of my system – caused me to develop a marijuana use disorder that was worse than anything I had before.

Thankfully, it was short lived and after a horrible experience with the cannabis oil, I gave it up. But I know that's not always the case and marijuana use disorder can become a real issue...but thankfully research has shown that naltrexone can work in a similar way with marijuana as it does alcohol.

I hope you found this helpful!

Cheers,

Katie

Medical Disclaimer: This content is not for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Consult a healthcare professional for any medical concerns. Do not ignore or delay seeking medical advice based on what you read here.