A short study has shown that medicinal-grade CBD Oil can help addicts deal with a heroin dependency.
CBD Oil, a non-psychoactive element in hemp and marijuana, can help doctors treat those who are addicted to heroin. A patient who is addicted to heroin who ingested medical CBD Oil experienced reduced anxiety and craving for a period of one week after the most recent dosage. These findings show that CBD Oil is promising as a treatment for heroin addiction. This gives users a reason to buy CBD from trusted CBD vendors and enjoy the benefits of CBD Oil.
Currently, the medication allowed to treat such individuals includes buprenorphine, methadone as well as naltrexone. All these work in the same way, by lowering an addict’s cravings for heroin.
Researchers believe that cravings cause patients to relapse, so if they can be dealt with, it would be very easy to prevent relapses. Buprenorphine and methadone are opioids, which is why they are tightly regulated. Naltrexone is not an opioid just like CBD Oil.
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Addition can be considered a brain illness
Before delving into reasons why CBD might be considered useful in treating opioid addiction, you need to know how addiction changes your behavior. The addition is considered a multifaceted condition and an illness of the brain that manifests through compulsive use of harmful substances. Users often do this knowing fully well that the substances they are using are harmful.
The addition is considered a disease because it takes over your brain and changes the way your brain handles information. The part of the brain that is responsible for controlling perception and pleasure is much more susceptible and can be influenced by drug abuse.
Addiction causes your brain to be re-wired, causing you to perceive your surrounding in terms of your preferred drug of choice. As a result, your brain becomes accustomed to associating drug use and the physical places where you usually consume the drugs.
The addition is often associated with the need to have a high. However, some addicts tend to continue using drugs, or they relapse once they decide to quit using drugs. The difficulty in quitting, even when an addict is under pressure from loved ones, is associated with the effects of withdrawal.
Based on the type of drug a person is using, withdrawal symptoms can range from simple symptoms to something very intense. With regards to opioid addiction, withdrawals symptoms usually include nausea, anxiety, diarrhea, and vomiting.
A person dealing with heroin withdrawal tends to experience extreme anxiety. For that reason, it becomes almost impossible to quit because addicts resort to drugs of choice to dampen the anxiety. In addition, this behavior tends to be repetitive and often leads to feed-forward dependence.
Who is a drug-dependent?
A person is drug dependent when he or she has to have the drug of choice in the body in order to function normally. More importantly, there is a strong correlation between dependence, depression, and anxiety.
For those who are still using, the need to use drugs is no longer considered a conscious decision but rather an unavoidable circumstance. Treatment with medication like buprenorphine and methadone allows a user to recover from drug use. More recently, doctors and researchers have shifted focus to CBD as an adjunct in the treatment of drug-related addiction, including heroin dependency.
CBD and Opioid Addiction
In a study done in 2009, researchers used rats to understand the effect of CBD on opioid addiction. The rats were taught to move levers to receive their doses of heroin. CBD Oil did not cause a significant reduction in the quantity of the opioid the rats consumed. In addition, there was no reduction in their drug-seeking behavior either.
However, once the rats were taken off heroin and placed on a regular dose of CBD Oil, they showed a significant decrease in their need to use heroin when exposed to cue relating to this opioid. Studies in human subjects showed that when they were given doses of fentanyl, it was well tolerated in people who had no opioid dependency.
CBD Oil, anxiety and cravings
A recent study involving 42 subjects who had used heroin in the past worked was carried out to test this theory. Most of the subjects in this study had used heroin or a similar opioid in the past few weeks.
The study found that these subjects did not exhibit acute withdrawal after they joined the study. In addition, they were not under any maintenance treatment using any of the FDA-approved medication.
During this study, the subjects were not allowed to use heroin or other psychoactive elements apart from nicotine. The researcher grouped the subjects into three groups with dosages of 800 mg, 400 mg, and a placebo.
These doses were assigned orally once daily for a period of three days. Over the next few days, levels of opioid were taken in each subject. After seven days, it was found that those who took CBD Oil had low anxiety and craving levels. Stress levels were also reported to be lower than those on placebo.
CBD Oil as a Potential Treatment for dependency
Close to 47000 American died due to an opioid-related incident two years ago. This is according to America’s National Institute on Drug Abuse. The deaths were attributed to fentanyl, methadone, and fentanyl.
In the past, research was focused on the potency of marijuana against addiction relating to prescription opioids used by people who suffer from chronic pains. However, newer studies have shifted focus to CBD Oil and its potential to help people suffering from heroin addiction.
This is a good sign, particularly with respect to potential future research studies that will focus on the potential use of CBD as an alternative medication for opioid addiction.
However, most research studied on this matter are usually small and the researchers only assess their subjects for a period of one week. Plus, CBD Oil used in most of these studies isn’t run on the mills CBD that you can find at your local dispensary.
Most researchers use Epidiolex, an FDA-approved cannabis medication. Unlike most other products on the market. Unlike your typical tincture of CBD Oil, the purity and Concentration in Epidiolex is well known.
That said, further research is necessary to ascertain whether CBD Oil can actually help addicts remain clean. In addition, there is a need to find out if it will work for other types of addicts.
Practical Considerations
Prior to purchasing CDB Oil products to help provide relief for any health condition, you should consider the following things.
CBD Oil is not FDA regulated, although people are using it to treat a variety of conditions. In addition, based on recent findings, most of the CBD products on the market have very little CBD Oil or none at all. As a result, you need to be careful about what you buy. Also, ensure that you screen your CBD Oil products for THC.
Also, be sure to speak to your doctor if you are using other kinds of medication. Research has shown that most of the side effects you are likely to experience could be due to CBD’s interaction with other medications.
Wrap Up
Drug addiction can ruin a person’s life. Once addiction sets in, getting out of it take a lot of effort. Fortunately, CBD Oil has been found to help addicts cope with withdrawal. Although more research is needed in this area, CBD Oil is likely to become the go-to adjunct for drug-related addiction treatment.
