How to Stop Marijuana Cravings, Prevent Relapse and Find Help

Quitting marijuana after regularly using it can trigger persistent thoughts and strong urges to use. While weed cravings can be unpleasant, they do not need to lead to relapse. Treatment approaches, including behavioral techniques and certain medications, may help you reduce cravings to better prevent relapse and support recovery from weed addiction.

Signs and Symptoms of Weed Cravings

Marijuana is a widely used drug that has been a topic of much debate, particularly regarding its long-term effects and addiction potential. However, it’s known that with regular or long-term use, some people may develop cannabis use disorder and experience cravings when they try to quit weed.

Cravings are characterized as a strong urge or desire to use a drug.¹ Marijuana cravings might feel persistent and intrusive, especially early in recovery. Some people may feel that using more marijuana is the only way to manage these strong cravings or urges. However, cravings are a common experience during cannabis withdrawal, and they can often be effectively managed with the right strategies and treatment support.

For marijuana users, cravings are often triggered by environmental and behavioral factors such as specific locations, social settings, and time of day.² For example, it is common for people to experience cravings in situations where marijuana has been previously used, with peers who also use marijuana, and in the evening hours.

There are several features of cannabis cravings, too.³ Consider the following:³

• Cravings are core symptoms of cannabis withdrawal and are commonly reported alongside symptoms such as mood and sleep disturbances.
• Cannabis cravings are linked to changes in the brain’s cannabinoid receptors that occur with long-term use. These changes can give rise to several unpleasant, cravings-adjacent symptoms that begin to resolve over time after stopping use.
• Withdrawal-related cravings are clinically significant and are associated with an increased risk of relapse.
• Cravings often occur alongside irritability, anxiety, and restlessness, reflecting a broader withdrawal syndrome rather than a single isolated symptoms.

When Do Marijuana Cravings Start?

Marijuana withdrawal symptoms can begin anywhere from 24-72 hours after cessation.¹ Often, symptoms peak within a week’s time and can continue for 1-2 weeks thereafter.¹ Both the character and intensity of symptoms a person experiences may vary, but are generally influenced by factors such as the frequency, duration, and amount of marijuana used, with heavier and more prolonged use being associated with relatively stronger cravings and more severe symptoms.¹

Weed Cravings in the Brain

Cravings can involve both physical and psychological processes, and they likely reflect activity throughout several systems in the brain. Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), which measures changes in regional blood flow related to different types of brain activity, has shown that the brain motivation and reward pathways are involved in the experience of cravings.⁴ Simply being exposed to a marijuana trigger – like a pipe or rolling papers – can increase activity in the following brain regions or structures:⁴

• Ventral tegmental area - Houses some of the brain’s reward circuitry and is involved with motivation and reinforcement of certain behaviors
• Thalamus - Relay point for numerous sensory pathways
• Amygdala - Involved with emotional processing and the formation of associations between certain cues or triggers and drug use behavior

Other imaging studies have suggested that long-term marijuana use may also affect regions of the brain involved with memory, such as the hippocampus.⁵ The neural biochemical mechanisms that underpin a marijuana craving are similar to those that occur with cravings for other drugs – including cocaine, heroin and alcohol.⁴

When considering the impact of marijuana on the brain, it is no surprise that former marijuana users experience significant physical and mental discomfort when trying to quit, especially in the first 10 days after their last use.⁶

Cannabis Addiction Treatment and Medications

When cravings become overwhelming, the risk for marijuana relapse significantly increases. Fortunately, relapse prevention strategies from cognitive behavioral therapy are effective at helping people cope with marijuana cravings:⁷

• Challenging beliefs about cannabis cravings. The first step in managing cravings is having an understanding of what they are and getting rid of any false beliefs. Many people see cravings as bad, which causes them to feel guilty when they have an urge. Instead, cravings can be reframed as a normal or even expected experience that should not cause shame.
• Learning to control your cannabis cravings. It is important to remember that cravings may cause you to feel something, but they cannot cause you to do anything. Cravings will not harm you and cannot make you relapse. You have the power to decide how you will react to your cravings.
• Practicing urge surfing. Urge surfing is a tool that involves imagining cravings to be like waves. As the wave comes toward you it peaks in intensity, but if you ride it out it eventually passes. Though cravings will feel especially uncomfortable when the wave is at its peak, they will not stick around forever.
• Using delay and distraction techniques during the peak of the craving. Try to completely engage your mind with something non-marijuana-related, such as watching television or reading a book. For some people, journaling or talking about the craving can actually make the craving feel worse. You can also delay by setting a timer for an hour, engrossing yourself in a distraction and then reassessing your craving afterward. Most likely your craving will not feel as intense.

Coping With Physical Symptoms of Craving Weed

You may be wondering how to deal with weed cravings. Marijuana cravings may be most pronounced within the few weeks of quitting weed when the body is also experiencing withdrawal symptoms.^2,5 During this time, weed cravings can also be managed and overcome by coping with the physical and psychological symptoms that arise:³

• Insomnia, or the inability to sleep, is common when quitting marijuana. Many people have disrupted sleep patterns to begin with and use marijuana as a sleep aid. To ease sleeping issues, exercising and avoiding caffeine and screens during the evening hours can help. Meditation and deep breathing exercises can be helpful before going to bed, too. If sleeping issues persist, consider seeing a doctor.
• Irritability and frustration can be managed by practicing deep breathing exercises to decrease your heart rate. Often irritability can result in saying or doing something based on a negative emotion, rather than rationally thinking about the situation. Exercise can also be beneficial for relieving frustrations and releasing endorphins.
• A depressed or unstable mood is common when quitting marijuana. This can be quite distressing for former marijuana users who have become accustomed to the euphoric feeling of being high. Brainstorm different activities that you have found enjoyable in the past, perhaps before using marijuana. Persistent, profoundly depressed mood may require further evaluation and management under the care of a medical or mental health professional.

Cannabis Craving Medications

Although no medications are currently FDA-approved for managing cannabis withdrawal (nor for treating cannabis use disorder), some off-label and investigational medications have been studied for reducing withdrawal symptoms, cravings and ongoing cannabis use.⁸ Though results have been mixed (and behavioral treatments remain the standard of care), some of the medications that have been investigated include:

• N-acetylcysteine is a medication used for a variety of purposes. It has been associated with decreased markers of cannabis relapse (increasing the likelihood of negative urine cannabinoid tests) in a study of adolescents seeking treatment for cannabis use disorder.^3,9 Like many medication treatments for substance related issues, such medicinal support might work better when combined with psychotherapy or other types of addiction treatment for marijuana use.
• Guanfacine, an FDA-approved medication used for the treatment of ADHD and hypertension, shows promise as an off-label medication that may reduce irritability and improve sleep for those withdrawing from cannabis, however more research is needed.^8,10
• Chantix (varenicline), a popular medication used to aid in tobacco cessation, is also being considered as an option to reduce cannabis withdrawal symptoms.⁸ Early research shows that Chantix can reduce cannabis withdrawal, the amount of days it is used, and how frequently a person uses it in a day.⁸ However, like guanfacine, more research needs to be conducted.

Doctors may also prescribe medications to address specific symptoms. For example, antidepressants or sleep aids may be prescribed to manage any concurrent depression and insomnia.

How Long Does It Take For Weed Cravings to Subside?

You may be wondering, ‘How long does it take to stop craving weed’? Weed cravings are often strongest during the first two weeks of abstinence. However, cravings may continue to persist for months, or even one to two years after quitting weed. Often, the intensity of cravings decreases over time. Stressors, such as the loss of a loved one or the loss of a job, may trigger cravings even after a prolonged period of abstinence.

Cravings are typically stronger for people who have used marijuana longer, with greater frequency and in larger amounts.

Marijuana Cravings After Being Sober

Cravings are common even after a person has been sober for a period of time. When marijuana has been a significant part of your life, it can be difficult to cope with life’s stressors without it. Using healthy coping skills and resources may feel unnatural, especially in the beginning. It can take frequent practice to replace the habit of using marijuana with relapse prevention tools.

Cannabis use disorder often follows a relapsing and remitting course, with recurrence of use occurring in a substantial proportion of individuals over time. Being sober for a period of time does not necessarily make cravings go away.

Former marijuana users may continue to crave weed for many reasons, including the following:

• Compulsive patterns of marijuana use are difficult to change.
• Marijuana has an impact on the reward centers of the brain. This pleasurable feeling leaves the user wanting more.
• The positive effects of marijuana, such as euphoria, become associated with different cues in the environment—e.g. being in a certain place, hearing a song on the radio or seeing a friend. When a person is exposed to those cues, the desire for marijuana can come rushing back.
• When a person becomes sober there is a tendency to remember the positive aspects of the drug and forget or ignore its negative aspects. This is often called “romanticizing”.
• Many marijuana users begin using drugs to cope with a feeling, such as social anxiety or depression. When a person becomes sober, these feelings do not necessarily go away, and in some cases initially become worse.

Though cravings for marijuana can persist well into sobriety, cravings can feel less distressing over time by using the tools described above. The more often that you are able to overcome an urge without using, the greater your sense of control over cravings will be, and it will be more likely that you will continue to use healthy tools to manage cravings in the future.

Detoxing From Weed and Withdrawal Risks

Quitting marijuana can result in a pattern of physical and mental withdrawal symptoms, including:¹

• Aggression.
• Anxiety.
• Depression.
• Loss of appetite.
• Weight loss.
• Irritability.
• Tremors.
• Lack of sleep.
• Stomach problems.

Marijuana Withdrawal Timeline

Many people detoxing from marijuana also experience significant cravings that can feel unbearable at times. You may be wondering, ‘how long does weed withdrawal last’? In heavy users, withdrawal symptoms typically begin within one to three days after stopping and reach their greatest intensity during the first week.¹

For most people, severe marijuana withdrawal symptoms will go away within two weeks.² However, milder symptoms can persist for months after quitting marijuana.

When to Seek Medical Attention

Treatment centers can provide education, tools, and support for managing cravings.

Marijuana withdrawal symptoms are generally not dangerous, and many people detox from marijuana on their own. However, those who have been diagnosed with depression or bipolar disorder may be at greater risk for experiencing depression during detox. If you feel you may be at greater risk, you should consult with a medical or mental health professional.

Different types of treatment programs are available to assist with the detox process and closely monitor your symptoms.

Detoxing at a treatment center is highly recommended if:

• You have a history of a mood disorder or other mental health diagnosis.
• You have ever had suicidal thoughts.
• You frequently used marijuana.
• You used large amounts of marijuana.
• You used other drugs with marijuana.
• You are experiencing significant cravings.

In addition to detox, treatment centers can provide a safe environment to manage marijuana cravings when they are at their highest intensity. After detox, alcohol and drug treatment centers can provide education, tools, and support for managing cravings and preventing relapse.

There Is Hope for Recovery

Addiction is treatable, and a life of freedom is possible. Connect with drug and alcohol treatment centers that specialize in your specific needs, from holistic care to medication-assisted treatment. Don’t wait another day to get help; find a recovery program that works for you.