Cannabis use disorder treatment in South Jersey
Marijuana has been legal for adults in New Jersey since 2021, and licensed dispensaries have been open since April 2022.
Legal status changed how people buy cannabis. It did not change how cannabis affects the brain of a person who cannot stop using it. That is what marijuana addiction treatment in Berlin, NJ at South Jersey Recovery Program is for.
At South Jersey Recovery Program, we treat cannabis use disorder the way we treat every other substance use disorder: as a real condition with a real treatment.
Our clinical team works with adults across Camden County and the surrounding South Jersey communities who have found that marijuana is taking more from their lives than it gives back. Treatment happens on an outpatient basis in Berlin, NJ, so clients keep their jobs, their homes, and their families while they get well.
Is marijuana actually addictive?
Yes. According to the CDC, approximately 3 in 10 people who use cannabis have cannabis use disorder. The National Institute on Drug Abuse puts the estimate between 22% and 30% of people who use. The risk is higher for people who start as teenagers and for people who use frequently.
The question comes up in nearly every first call we take about cannabis, so it deserves a direct answer. Cannabis use disorder is a recognized diagnosis in the DSM-5-TR, the manual clinicians use to diagnose substance use conditions.
A clinician looks for a pattern of use that causes problems, such as:
- Using more than intended
- Failing to cut back
- Spending a great deal of time obtaining or recovering from cannabis
- Cravings
- Giving up activities
- Continuing despite harm
- Tolerance
- Withdrawal
Two or three of those signs within a year indicate a mild disorder. Four or five indicate a moderate one. Six or more indicate a severe one.
Why this is a bigger problem than it used to be
Today’s cannabis is not the cannabis of past decades. NIDA reports that the average THC potency of cannabis seized by law enforcement quadrupled between 1995 and 2022, from 3.96% to 16.14%.
Dispensary flower and concentrates are often stronger than that. The CDC notes evidence that highly concentrated THC products are associated with more severe cannabis use disorder symptoms.
Higher potency also means more people end up frightened and sick from a single session.
If you or someone you know has had that experience, our guides to greening out, edibles, and whether you can overdose on weed explain what is happening in the body, what to do in the moment, and when it is a pattern rather than a one-time mistake.
In New Jersey, marijuana remains one of the most common reasons people enter treatment. The state’s Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services counted 81,217 substance use treatment admissions in 2024. Marijuana was the primary substance in 5,246 of them, about 6%, behind alcohol and heroin.
Among adults aged 18 to 24, marijuana was the primary substance in roughly 22% of admissions, more than heroin. Those are thousands of New Jersey residents every year, and most of them are treated in outpatient settings like ours.
When marijuana use becomes cannabis use disorder
Most people who come to us for cannabis treatment did not arrive after a single crisis. They arrived after years of telling themselves they could stop whenever they wanted, then noticing that they never did.
Cannabis use disorder is diagnosed against the same eleven DSM-5-TR criteria as every other substance use disorder, and the count sets the severity.
| DSM-5-TR severity | Criteria met in the past 12 months | What it often looks like | Where treatment usually starts at South Jersey Recovery Program |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mild | 2 or 3 of 11 | Using more than planned, failed attempts to cut down, cravings | Outpatient, one or two sessions a week |
| Moderate | 4 or 5 of 11 | Daily use, tolerance, withdrawal when stopping, obligations slipping | Intensive outpatient, weekday mornings |
| Severe | 6 or more of 11 | The day is organized around use; anxiety, CHS or paranoia alongside it | Partial care or IOP, with dual diagnosis care when needed |
Signs use has become a problem
Signs that use has crossed into a disorder include:
- Using every day or nearly every day, often starting in the morning
- Needing more cannabis, or stronger products, to feel the same effect
- Irritability, anxiety, poor sleep, vivid dreams, or low appetite when you go without it
- Trying to cut back or quit and going back within days
- Using to manage anxiety, depression, or sleep, and finding those problems worse when you stop
- Missing work, school, or family obligations, or showing up impaired
- Recurring vomiting or stomach pain in a long-term daily user, which can signal cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome and needs medical evaluation
- Friends or family raising the subject, and you changing it
What withdrawal feels like
Cannabis withdrawal is real for many frequent users, even though it is rarely dangerous. A 2020 meta-analysis in JAMA Network Open estimated that about 47% of people with regular or dependent cannabis use experience withdrawal symptoms when they stop. Irritability, poor sleep, and cravings are the most common.
Symptoms usually begin within a day or two, peak in the first week, and ease over the following weeks. For many people, those symptoms are the reason every quit attempt has failed. Structured treatment exists to get you through that window.
Outpatient treatment for marijuana addiction
Cannabis use disorder almost never requires a hospital or a residential facility. It does require more than willpower.
There is no FDA-approved medication for cannabis use disorder, so effective treatment is built on therapy that has been tested for exactly this condition. NIDA identifies three approaches with research support:
- Cognitive behavioral therapy
- Motivational enhancement therapy
- Contingency management
We provide the first two. Contingency management, a structured program of rewards for verified abstinence, is delivered by specialized programs, and we do not offer it.
Every client begins with a clinical assessment that covers substance use history, mental health, physical health, and what has and has not worked before. From there we match the level of care to the person.
Partial care
Our most structured option, with treatment Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., while clients return home each evening. Partial care fits people with severe cannabis use disorder, a co-occurring mental health condition, or a history of returning to use quickly after quitting.
Intensive outpatient (IOP)
Three to five days a week, during the day. Our intensive outpatient program is the most common starting point for cannabis treatment, with enough structure to break a daily-use pattern and enough flexibility to keep a life running.
Outpatient program (OP)
Weekly individual therapy and group therapy for people who have stabilized, or whose use is milder and who need support rather than intensive treatment.
Across every level, treatment addresses what sits underneath the cannabis use. Many of our clients started using to quiet anxiety, manage trauma, or get to sleep. If a mental health condition is driving the use, we treat both together through our dual diagnosis care, because treating one and ignoring the other is how people relapse.
Your first call to South Jersey Recovery Program
A first call takes about fifteen minutes. We ask about what you are using, how often, what you have tried, and what you want to change.
We check your insurance on the same call, so you know what your plan covers before you decide anything. Many commercial plans include outpatient substance use treatment, though coverage varies by plan, and you can start the process on our insurance verification form below.
If you are not sure treatment is warranted, call anyway. An honest conversation with an addiction-trained clinician is worth more than another round of trying to quit alone.
New Jersey residents can also reach the state’s free, 24-hour addiction helpline, ReachNJ, at 1-844-732-2465, regardless of insurance status.
Cannabis use disorder is common, it is treatable, and it is treatable without leaving home. Contact South Jersey Recovery Program to talk with our admissions team about marijuana addiction treatment in Berlin, NJ.
Sources
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Cannabis and Public Health: Health Effects. cdc.gov/cannabis/health-effects
- National Institute on Drug Abuse. Cannabis (Marijuana). nida.nih.gov/research-topics/cannabis-marijuana
- Bahji A, et al. Prevalence of Cannabis Withdrawal Symptoms Among People With Regular or Dependent Use of Cannabinoids. JAMA Network Open. 2020;3(4):e202370. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32271390
- Connor JP, et al. Clinical management of cannabis withdrawal. Addiction. 2022;117(7):2075–2095. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34791767
- Office of the Governor of New Jersey. Adult-Use Cannabis Reform Bills Signed Into Law (February 22, 2021). New Jersey State Library archive.
- New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission. First day of adult-use sales in New Jersey (April 21, 2022). nj.gov/cannabis
- Patel J, Marwaha R. Cannabis Use Disorder. StatPearls, National Library of Medicine. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK538131
- New Jersey Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services. Substance Use Overview 2024, Statewide. nj.gov/humanservices/dmhas
- ReachNJ, New Jersey’s addiction helpline. nj.gov/humanservices/reachnj
