CBD in the fight against addictions
Everyone, who has come into contact with addiction (personally or among relatives), knows how serious problem it is. Seemingly irrelevant addictions may affect our behaviour, health or even friends and family.
Addictions, both to particular substances or behaviours, are common in our society. They are everywhere, starting with the widespread ones such as caffeine or social media and ending with some very serious problems like alcohol, hard drugs or sex. As a civilization, we are constantly looking for an appropriate solution.
Psychological and physical dependence
Generally, we can divide addictions into two types. Person who suffers from psychological dependence feels a compulsion (an intrinsic need) to do or take something. However if they refrain from doing this, they will not experience any physical effects. Psychologically, we can be addicted to:
- smoking marijuana,
- Internet browsing,
- computer games,
- social media.
What is a physical dependence?
In the second type of dependence, a person wants to alleviate the consequences of a substance withdrawal. Some ailments e.g. muscle twitching, insomnia, hallucinations or physical pain, make people reach for some heavily addictive drugs.
Physical dependence may be caused by:
- sleeping pills,
- psychotropic drugs,
- opioids (heroine, morphine, strong painkillers).
Why are addictions dangerous?
Experts who deal with addiction treatment say that being addicted to drugs, medications and alcohol is exceptionally dangerous. They destroy our body and may cause some irreversible changes in organs functioning, among which liver, kidneys, cardiovascular system and brain are at greatest risk.
Everyone heard about celebrities who died due to drug overdose. Much less frequently we can hear about ailments who are an intermediate step between the beginning of dependence and person’s death such as:
- heart attack,
- kidney failure,
- liver damage,
- digestive problems,
- blood clots in the veins,
- arterial embolism,
- decreased libido,
- decreased fertility,
- menstrual disorder,
- general immune deficiency,
- personality disorder,
- insomnia (sleep deprivation),
What are the social consequences of addictions?
Consequences of addiction are not just restricted to a drug user – they have an impact on relationships, families, work, education, healthcare system, judiciary, police or politics. The studies show clearly that the whole society bears the costs of addiction.
The biggest loss, which will always remain incalculable, is the creative potential that could develop if the person hadn’t been repeating the same aimless behaviours that provide him/her with a temporary relief.
Currently, there is a so-called “opioid epidemic” in the USA. The number of people addicted to opioids (both legal and illegal) is dramatically increasing. The American government states that over 11 million of Americans have taken an excessive amount of opioids, 2 million of which have become addicted. The American dream has now become an American hallucination. It’s the massive pharmaceutical companies who ensured doctors about harmlessness of selling medicaments on a large scale are to be blamed. People were put in jails for giving financial benefits to doctors in exchange for prescribing some dangerous drugs such as fentanyl to those who didn’t need it.
Can we reduce the damage caused by addictions?
In the last 20 years the opioid epidemic has killed about 300,000 Americans. Were we able to avoid it? What can we do now to stop this tragedy?
Many scientists see the solution in medical marijuana. The number of studies, where CBD (non-psychoactive and non-addictive ingredient of marijuana) proves its strong effects against addictions is rising. In a study published in the periodical Neurotherapeutics, the scientists notice a great potential of using CBD to treat the opioid addiction.
CBD in the fight against addictions
The scientists who are experts on the subject of addiction conducted an in-depth analysis and reached the following conclusions:
“The limited number of preclinical trials suggests that CBD may be useful in treating opioid, cocaine or stimulants addiction. Some preliminary data on research on people can be effective in cannabis and tobacco addiction”
Does CBD reverse changes in the brain?
There is some evidence that CBD reverses the brain damage caused by heroine. Moreover, thanks to some other studies we know that it soothes pain and brings relief, so provides us with feeling that many opioid addicts desperately seek for.
The conventional methods of treating addiction are a long shot, so why don’t we give cannabis a chance? After all, as Albert Einstein said, “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result”.
Daley, D. (2013). Family and social aspects of substance use disorders and treatment. Journal of Food and Drug Analysis, 21(4), pp.S73-S76.
R, S. (2019). The social impact of drug abuse on community life. – PubMed – NCBI. pp.14764-14769.
Hurd, Y., Yoon, M., Manini, A., Hernandez, S., Olmedo, R., Ostman, M. and Jutras-Aswad, D. (2015). Early Phase in the Development of Cannabidiol as a Treatment for Addiction: Opioid Relapse Takes Initial Center Stage. Neurotherapeutics, 12(4), pp.807-815.
Campbell G, e. (2019). Understanding the evidence for medical cannabis and cannabis-based medicines for the treatment of chronic non-cancer pain. – PubMed – NCBI .