Addiction and Withdrawal
CBD can be a great treatment for addiction recovery and withdrawal symptoms.
A recent study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, led by Yasmin Hurd, further demonstrates the ability of CBD to reduce cravings in people with heroin drug addiction. The study involved 42 women and men with history of heroin abuse attempting to abstain from relapse. As part of the experiment, participants were shown two types of videos: neutral videos showing nature scenes and videos showing drug-related cues aiming to trigger drug cravings. The participants were divided into three groups: people who took 400mg of CBD, people who took 800 mg of CBD, and a placebo group.
The interventions were taken for three consecutive days. The experiment was double-blinded, meaning that neither the researchers nor the participants were aware of which conditions they were assigned during the experiment.
As expected, participants experienced higher cravings after seeing the heroin related videos as compared to the neutral videos. However, those participants who took CBD as part of the treatment reported fewer drug cravings than people in the placebo group after exposure to drug-related cues. Results also demonstrate reduction in anxiety as well as reduction in heart rate and cortisol which is the “stress hormone.” The effects of the intervention were visible as soon as one hour after administration of CBD and were still visible up to one week after the intervention.
Higher than normally recommended CBD doses seem to be more effective for severe addiction cases. Trials have been done with both 400mg and 800mg of CBD per day per patient.
Always check with your medical professional before discontinuing any medications.
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