The opioid epidemic is sweeping the United States at an alarming rate, and it has become a public health disaster. During the late 1990s, various pharmaceutical companies assured the medical community that patients would not become addicted to opioid pain relievers. Consequently, this allowed healthcare providers to prescribe them at a greater frequency. This increase in the prescription of opioid medication has led to widespread misuse of both prescription and non-prescription opioids before its highly addictive nature was discovered.
As opioid addiction increases, there is a growing need for new and effective therapeutic protocols and treatments. CBD Oil is one such method that has gained a lot of traction in the past few years.
Here, we try to understand whether CBD oil can help to treat Opioid addiction.
Can You Use CBD Oil To Treat Opioid Addiction?
Opioids were initially prescribed for managing severe pain, but in no time, the body becomes reliant on them for relief, thereby leading to addiction. Moreover, the more prolonged use of opioids, the higher is the risk for tolerance. Thus, a higher or frequent dosage of the opioid to feel the same effects leads to a vicious cycle.
It can effectively reduce an individual’s dependency on an opioid for pain relief. For more information, you can check online dispensary Canada. Different research reports have shown that CBD can reduce cue-based drug-seeking behavior among heroin addicts. In one study, CBD reduced heroin cravings by more than half. More promising results showed that the effects of CBD appeared to grow stronger with time.
Why use CBD for Treating Opioid Addiction
In addition to the above strategy of reducing opioid dependency, CBD can be just as effective as a pain reliever. CBD can be 30% more effective than opioids among cancer patients. Moreover, CBD oil can be a preferable treatment to opioids from the beginning, which may prevent opioid addiction in the first place. To start with it is important to take into consideration the impact it has causes through FAA drug testing.
Withdrawing from opioid drugs is a mentally and physically painful process. Consequently, having CBD that can ease withdrawal symptoms and reduce cravings
can significantly improve the chance of recovery. The withdrawal time of Opioids depends on the specific drug taken, but the signs are similar across the board. The symptoms of withdrawal can be severe. The pain from withdrawal often brings people back to their opioid of choice to feel “normal” again. In some cases, you may need a stay at a drug rehabilitation center to not have access to the substance during recovery.
Benefits of using CBD for treating opioid addiction?
There is enough evidence that boasts CBD’s potential as a treatment for opiate withdrawal patients. CBD has anti-nausea, anti-anxiety, and pain-relieving qualities, to name a few, which can help opioid withdrawal sufferers ease their symptoms. CBD can benefit mentally, physically and may even help people stay off the drugs for good.
CBD Can Reduce Cravings
The craving-reducing qualities of CBD are one of the most desirable ones for opioid withdrawal. More than 70 percent of withdrawal patients claimed CBD controlled their cravings for opiate drugs. CBD consumption reduces the most common side effects, which reduces cravings. Subsequently, when the withdrawal symptoms get reduced, it becomes easier to resist using opioids again.
Can Alleviate Anti-Nausea
Opioid withdrawal symptoms include nausea and vomiting. Thus, the reduction of these symptoms will make the withdrawal process much more manageable. CBD can help regulate nausea due to its interaction with serotonin receptors, and low doses of THC prevent vomiting and relieve nausea. Hence, you can use full-spectrum CBD oils for treating nausea and vomiting.
CBD Can Reduce Anxiety Levels People with stress and anxiety often use CBD to relieve their symptoms. Anxiety is a common symptom of opioid withdrawal, so using CBD may help reduce it.
CBD Can provide relief from pain CBD can be an excellent option for pain relief. Research studies reveal that CBD can effectively suppress neuropathic pain and inflammation. It concluded that users were not likely to build up a tolerance to the CBD, meaning they could use the same dose repeatedly without increasing. It is an exceptional quality of CBD for someone suffering from the opioid withdrawal process.
CBD May Help Prevent Relapse
CBD can be effective in relapse prevention after an addiction when consumed daily.
Conclusion
Despite its long history of recreational use, the understanding of medicinal aspects of CBD is in its infancy. Significant research efforts are still necessary to fully evaluate CBD’s development as a potential therapy for addiction disorders. At the time of writing, the evidence appears to support a possible beneficial treatment for opioid abuse. Patients with opioid addiction present various psychiatric and medical symptoms such as anxiety, mood symptoms, insomnia, and pain that CBD reduces. Thus, CBD can be beneficial for treating opioid-dependent individuals. Currently, most medications for opioid abuse
directly target the endogenous opioid system. CBD can offer a different line of research medication that indirectly regulates neural systems modulating opioid-related behavior.
