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Can CBD Treat Opioid Addiction?
Each day, over 130 people in the USA die from overdosing on opioids. This abuse of prescription pain relievers, heroin, and synthetic opioids such as fentanyl affects public health as much as it does economic and social welfare and has been declared a health crisis by the Department of Health and Human Services.
It has been estimated that the total “economic burden” of prescription opioid misuse alone (in the United States) is a whopping $78.5 billion a year, including the costs of healthcare, lost productivity, addiction treatment, and criminal justice involvement.
In addition to this, more than 60,000 people become addicted to opioid use each year, most of who find it practically impossible to refrain from repeated use. In response to this national crisis, various pharmaceutical treatments have been formulated to approach overdose prevention.
One of the treatments employs medical marijuana use, which is now legal in all states of the USA.
In this post we will discuss:
- the advantages of using CBD to manage opioid addiction, and
- the relation between CBD and opioids in pain control.
However, before we talk about CBD and its use, let’s get an idea of what opioids are.
Resources
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6135562/
- https://www.consumerreports.org/cannabis/can-cbd-treat-opioid-addiction/
What are opioids? How can opioid obsession be identified?
Opioids are basically cogent, pain-relieving narcotics that give users a sense of euphoria, calm and relaxation. The term opioid includes both prescription pain-relievers – like morphine, buprenorphine, methadone, oxymorphone – and the illicit street drug heroin.
Some opioids that are legally prescribed by healthcare providers) are also addictive, and prolonged use can result in addiction and dependency. Opioid obsession is identified by a robust, compulsive urge to use opioid drugs, even when not needed medically.
Opioids have an unusual potential for provoking addiction in some people and dependence on opioids is a long-lasting (chronic) disorder that can induce significant health, social, and financial problems. Many people who fall victim to this addiction encounter life-threatening health difficulties, including the danger of overdose.
Understanding Cannabidiol (CBD)
CBD is one of the several compounds that can be found in a cannabis plant.
Not all are aware that CBD is non-psychoactive and cannot get you high, unlike Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the compound that is responsible for the high that marijuana users experience.
CBD has many medical uses and helps with the many common conditions and can be used to manage symptoms like pain, inflammation, epilepsy, seizures, anxiety, etc. It gives reliefs from psychological and physical conditions by binding to receptors in the body’s Endocannabinoid System and optimizing physiological processes to better your health. There are hundreds of businesses that releasing natural oils into the market. It is our role to choose the best CBD oil which best fits for our medical condition.
How does cannabis counter opioid addiction and overdose?
CBD provides analgesic, anti-anxiety, and anti-inflammatory, consequences with no recognized severe side effects. The receptors for both opioids and cannabinoids are present in areas of our brains that control how we perceive pain. When CBD is consumed, the neurons in the pain-signaling areas are relaxed, resulting in an ‘anti-pain effect.’
Opioid overdose is a therapeutic urgency and requires immediate extensive care. If you suspect that one of your peers is falling victim to opioid addiction or are suffering from it yourself, seek remedial care immediately. Lack of awareness can even result in the untimely death of an individual.
Can CBD Oil help manage the traits of opioid de-addiction?
If you’re looking for a way to support your rehabilitation program or simply reduce pain, overcome anxiety, or better sleep (common symptoms of opioid withdrawal), CBD is worth giving a try indeed.
Many victims of addiction use CBD as a replacement for pharmaceutical drugs in the treatment of withdrawal symptoms as it alleviates pain, nausea and helps you relax during the recovery period. It also makes opioid treatment safer by increasing the therapeutic ratio so that a patient needs fewer opioids to get the same potent analgesic effect. CBD usage also prevents opioid threshold build-up and reduces the need for dose intensification.
Final Thoughts:
According to a survey by the FDA, legalization of cannabis for recreational practice has resulted in a reduction of 0.7 deaths per month in opioid-related deaths. Though it’s not definite that CBD by itself can substitute therapy in regulating opioid obsessions, modern researches indicate that therapeutic cannabis use results in a surprising 33% reduction in the use of opioids and opioid-related inevitabilities.
So while further research is needed to draw any absolute conclusions, findings from several studies seem to be very promising. And with the CBD legalization drawing near, many are now looking to it as a realistic solution to the opioid crisis and as a crucial part of detoxification treatments.
Contributing Author: Ramya Rams