Cannabis and CBD may be helpful in reducing hard drug abuse

Both the use of cannabis and the use of CBD (cannabidiol) may be helpful in reducing the craving for hard drugs, such as opioids, cocaine and alcohol. Scientists of the University of British Columbia, Canada, conducted a review on the mental health effects of cannabis use. “Research suggests that people may be using cannabis as an exit drug to reduce use of substances that are potentially more harmful, such as opioid pain medication,” said the study’s lead investigator Zach Walsh, associate professor of psychology at the Okanagan campus of the University of British Columbia.

At the annual meeting of the American Society for Neuroscience a group from the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, USA, reported preliminary research showing that cannabidiol can quell urges for cocaine in rats. Scientists allowed rats to dose themselves at will with cocaine until they became addicted. At the end of three months, they gave some of the animals transdermal patches with cannabidiol. The rats that received the patches reduced their cocaine intake, whereas the ones that didn’t continued to consume as much cocaine as before. Other researchers—from Miguel Hernandez University in Spain— presented a study showing that cannabidiol reduced alcohol consumption.

Read the study here.