By now, cannabis\u2019s value as a pain reliever is almost universally accepted.<\/p>\n
Even those of us whose plans for personal and professional development are to become an\u00a0eleventh-hour legalization contrarian<\/a>\u00a0must admit that marijuana is good for pain. Declaring otherwise would be to contradict both the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine and findings published in the Journal of American Medicine.<\/p>\n But whether cannabis can solve the country\u2019s\u00a0opiate-overdose crisis<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 a function of both pain and the much thornier concept of \u201caddiction\u201d \u2014 is an entirely different question.<\/p>\n It remains true that that marijuana may be an acceptable, if not preferable, substitute for opiate-based painkillers when it comes to pain relief. In fact, that finding is increasingly en vogue among states adding pain and\/or opiate prescriptions to its list of conditions qualifying users for legal medical marijuana.<\/p>\n But what if marijuana could treat not just pain, but addiction? According to an\u00a0article<\/a>\u00a0recently published in the journal Frontiers in Psychiatry, there is a chance that the increasingly popular and common marijuana compound\u00a0cannabidiol, or CBD<\/a>, might have value in treating substance-use disorder \u2014 including opiate addiction.<\/p>\n For more than a year, CBD has been widely available in the United States. CBD is non-intoxicating, has proven medical benefits and can also be found in cannabis sativa plants that qualify as \u201chemp\u201d under U.S. drug laws. This means it\u2019s legal in all 50 states, though\u00a0how\u00a0<\/em>legal depends on which state and which law-enforcement jurisdiction is in question.<\/p>\n Like its outlaw cousin\u00a0THC<\/a>, CBD present in the human body and brain activates receptors in the endocannabinoid system, which regulates key functions like mood, appetite and sleep. But it also activates the receptors associated with reward and motivation, the same releases of chemicals sought after by individuals with substance-use disorder.<\/p>\n And, as these researchers in Australia recently pointed out, there are signs that CBD could reduce cravings in substance users, thus reducing the likelihood that the user would relapse.<\/p>\n \u201cAnimal and human studies suggest that these cannabinoids have the potential to reduce craving and relapse in abstinent substance users, by impairing reconsolidation of drug-reward memory, salience of drug cues, and inhibiting the reward-facilitating effect of drugs,\u201d according to the researchers, who were quick to note that they\u2019re not entirely sure how this works.<\/p>\n \u201cSuch functions likely arise through the targeting of the endocannabinoid and serotonergic systems,\u201d they noted. \u201cAlthough the exact mechanism is yet to be elucidated.\u201d<\/p>\n Marijuana\u2019s value in solving opiate use relies entirely on studies examining mice. One study found that CBD alone wasn\u2019t nearly as effective as a 5-to-1 CBD to THC cocktail in alleviating morphine cravings. However, other studies and a study in rats did find that CBD alone reduced reliance on the substance.<\/p>\n Further reviewing existing literature, the researchers found that \u201c[w]hile early research supports CBD\u2019s promise, further investigation and validation of CBD\u2019s efficacy, across preclinical and clinical trials will be necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cCBD shows some promise in alleviating negative withdrawal effects and reducing motivation to self-administer or reinstatement of drug use in animals,\u201d they wrote, noting the limited scope of existing data. \u201cHowever, evidence on its efficacy is limited and mixed.\u201d<\/p>\n And they steered clear of even suggesting CBD is a one-stop solution to the ills of addiction: \u201cCBD alone may not be sufficiently effective in maintaining long-term abstinence without ongoing support and behavioral therapy, as evidenced by its lack of efficacy over treatments, such as cognitive behavioral therapy and motivational enhancement therapy.\u201d<\/p>\n Nevertheless, if it is true that CBD has any value in reducing cravings or even acting as replacement therapy, this is huge and would contradict one line of thought now dominant.<\/p>\n As of now, not only are claims that cannabis could treat addiction unproven, as a review from the Maryland state Medical Cannabis Commission\u00a0recently found<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 there are also some good-faith voices in science and medicine questioning whether cannabis may not \u201cexacerbate substance use and dependency issues,\u201d according to the same Maryland review.\u00a0<\/p>\n This, in turn, gives the chorus of prohibitionists parroting some combination of the \u201cmarijuana is a\u00a0gateway drug<\/a>, why do we need one more drug out there?\u201d line badly needed cover.<\/p>\n But even that may be disappearing.<\/p>\n TELL US<\/strong>, what cannabis research would you like to see conducted?<\/p>\n The post Can CBD Combat Alcohol and Drug Addiction? Maybe.<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
By now, cannabis\u2019s value as a pain reliever is almost universally accepted. Even those of us whose plans for personal and professional development are to become an\u00a0eleventh-hour legalization contrarian\u00a0must admit that marijuana is good for pain. Declaring otherwise would be to contradict both the National Academies of Science, Engineering andContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1213,50,136,1386,53,9396,1145,738,420],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33873"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33873"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33873\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33874,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33873\/revisions\/33874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}New Pathways to Recovery<\/h4>\n
More Work to be Done<\/h4>\n
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\nRead More: Can CBD Combat Alcohol and Drug Addiction? Maybe.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"