CBD Helps Reduce Opioid Dependency

Over the last decade or so, there has been an uproar of medications that have come in with high amounts of opioids present in them. These medications were mostly used as a pain-relieving agent in extreme or dire situations but progress has been used for not so severe situations too. Along with that, healthcare professionals have also eased the reins in prescribing such medication to people. This has brought about the infamous opioid crisis or epidemic, call it whatever you may, it has led to a significant rise in the number of people dependent on such medication. What’s worse is that most of these people hooked on opioid-based medication are indulging elsewhere to feed their cravings. 

Medical Marijuana and especially CBD have come in handy to not just reduce the rampant use of opioids, but also help people in recovering from withdrawals. Opioids are considered to be one of the most, if not the most addictive substances known to us. There is a way to procure marijuana used for medicinal purposes and that is by referring to a medical marijuana doctor. You can even apply for a medical cannabis card online, that is how convenient it has become to be using something to help in more ways than one. 

What follows is how we can understand the use of CBD and how it helps in reducing opioid dependencies in people. 

How Can CBD Help in Bringing the Numbers Down?

Despite knowing well enough the repercussions of opioids and how people would be heavily dependent on them, there still are not enough non-opioid medications that have been in the market or production to tackle this medical health crisis. People are using the variations of opium-based medications that are doing them no good. For this reason, there have been studies going along in the lines of finding enough alternative methods to help in reducing the cravings developed by constant use and exposure to opioids. 

Cannabidiol (CBD) was studied recently with regard to the dependency of people on opioids and the results were fairly promising. Here is what the study was about and its findings - 

Cannabidiol for the Reduction of Cue-Induced Craving and Anxiety Brought on by Opioids 

The study was conducted as a double-blind randomized placebo-controlled trial and showed positive results on the behalf of CBD. The results indicated that acute administration of CBD, over a placebo, reduced both craving and anxiety induced by the use or prolonged use of opioids.

Why Was There an Opioid Outrage in the First Place?

The reason why there is such an exponential rise in the opioid crisis can be dated back to the late 1980s. During that time, pharmaceutical companies were coming with new ideas to bring effective pain relief and settled on opioids. They suggested that opioids would not be addictive by any measure and be extremely efficient in bringing constant pain relief. This was followed by an incremental surge is pushing healthcare professionals to prescribe the same to people during the 1990s and 2000s. 

It was the year 1995 when FDA approved the use of opioid painkiller OxyContin when the problem actually began and is termed as the focal point of opioid abuse issues.

Is CBD Legal?

Now that we know how many ill effects opioids have, let us transfer our attention to how and why CBD should be used and what is its status of legality. In a landmark decision in 2018, the US Farm Bill stated that hemp-derived CBD, with no more than 0.3% of THC by dry weight would be considered legal. After this there still have been many states that haven’t yet legalized its usefully, but there is headway to the same. The FDA also has approved Epidiolex as a pharmaceutical-grade cannabidiol oil product, which means that there are strong possibilities that CBD will be used commercially, pan America as an effective treatment method.