Can You Use CBD for Addiction? What the Science Says
Over the ensuing years, a wide body of research has accumulated, encompassing more than 500 unique studies, suggesting that CBD should be taken seriously as a potential anti-addiction therapy.
In this research review, we will share some of the most pertinent studies conducted to date on the subject of CBD and addiction. Along the way, you’ll have plenty of opportunity to determine for yourself whether CBD should be used for addiction or not.
CBD for Addiction: Overview
1. Considerable anecdotal evidence supports the use of CBD as an anti-addiction aid
2. These anecdotal reports have recently become accompanied by thorough peer-reviewed data
3. CBD’s usefulness for addiction has been studied in the context of opioids, nicotine, alcohol, and other addictive substances
4. The potential addiction-inhibiting effects of CBD appear to act through a variety of different chemical pathways
5. It remains unclear exactly how CBD affects the neurochemistry of addictive substances
6. Nonetheless, the evidence that has accumulated so far is certainly worthy of further examination
Most Recent Research on CBD and Addiction
2023: Cannabidiol tempers alcohol intake and neuroendocrine and behavioural correlates in alcohol binge drinking adolescent rats.
In one of the most recent studies on the subject, an international team of researchers sought to determine the effects of cannabidiol on the neurochemistry and behavior of rats subjected to alcoholism-inducing stimuli in a laboratory environment. Identifying CGRP as a neurochemical marker of alcoholism, the researchers found that CBD “reduced alcohol consumption and preference; normalised the abnormal corticolimbic CGRP expression.”
2023: Inhibition of Nicotine Metabolism by Cannabidiol (CBD) and 7-Hydroxycannabidiol (7-OH-CBD)
Due to both nicotine and CBD being processed by the same CYP450 enzyme, the researchers who conducted this recent study sought to determine if CBD has the potential to inhibit nicotine metabolism. The results were positive: “Assays with overexpressing microsomes demonstrated that CBD… inhibited CYP-mediated nicotine metabolism.”
2023: Cannabidiol Analogue CIAC001 for the Treatment of Morphine-Induced Addiction by Targeting PKM2
This recent study shows that CBD is highly regarded within the scientific community as a prospective addiction treatment. Researchers examined the ability of a newly-made CBD derivative to improve opioid addiction. The results were positive, leaving the door open for CBD-based anti-addiction drugs to enter the scene.
CBD for Addiction Human Trials
2015: Safety and pharmacokinetics of oral cannabidiol when administered concomitantly with intravenous fentanyl in humans
In 2015, fentanyl was just appearing on the scene, but it was already clear what a menace the synthetic opioid was to become. This early clinical study sought to determine if CBD might be at all useful in turning the tide of fentanyl overdose and addiction that was already gripping New York City. In the end, researchers found that CBD “does not exacerbate adverse effects associated with intravenous fentanyl administration” and that using CBD and opioids at the same time appears “safe and well tolerated.”
2019: Evaluation of the effects of CBD hemp extract on opioid use and quality of life indicators in chronic pain patients: a prospective cohort study
Four years later, a larger trial of 131 participants sought to determine if CBD could reduce the overall harm of opioid use and promote opioid cessation. In the end, the researchers tentatively found that CBD might “significantly reduce opioid use and improve chronic pain and sleep quality among patients who are currently using opioids for pain management.”
2016: Sativex Associated With Behavioral-Relapse Prevention Strategy as Treatment for Cannabis Dependence: A Case Series
Sativex is a cannabis prescription drug that combines THC and CBD. This small study of only 5 participants sought to determine the usefulness of CBD against THC addiction. It included a 3-month trial of Sativex, at the end of which participants showed considerably lower concentrations of THC. To the researchers, these results reflected “reduced cannabis use and compliance with medication.”
Additional CBD Addiction Studies
2021: Role of Cannabidiol in the Therapeutic Intervention for Substance Use Disorders
This 2021 research review collated data from all existing studies pertaining to CBD and addiction. It begins by admitting that all the available evidence suggests CBD might be useful against substance abuse disorders (SUD) and concludes that CBD should be viewed as a “new therapeutic intervention” against addiction.
2015: Cannabidiol as an Intervention for Addictive Behaviors: A Systematic Review of the Evidence
This early review of the available research opened the door to the ongoing discussion surrounding CBD as an addiction treatment. It was here that the evidence regarding CBD’s possible usefulness for “opioid, cocaine, and psychostimulant addiction” was first collated in such detail.
Discussion: Should CBD Be Used for Addiction?
Based on the available evidence, there appears to be no reason at all to discount CBD as a potentially effective treatment for substance abuse. Even if all of the accumulated evidence is somehow misleading, the risks associated with trying CBD for addiction appear to be entirely insubstantial. Compared to the drawbacks of other addiction treatments. CBD certainly seems worth a try.
Modern civilization stands balanced within circumstances that actively call for new and improved approaches to the problem of addiction. As a natural and unaugmented substance, CBD is the perfect counterpoint to the synthetic drugs that have led to the opioid and wider addiction epidemics. We call upon the scientific community to continue their intrepid research of CBD as a potential therapy for substance abuse and addiction disorders.
Sources
1. Tringali, G., Lavanco, G., Castelli, V. P., Pizzolanti, G., Kuchař, M., Currò, D., Cannizzaro, C., & Brancato, A. (2023). Cannabidiol tempers alcohol intake and neuroendocrine and behavioural correlates in alcohol binge drinking adolescent rats. Focus on calcitonin gene‐related peptide’s brain levels. Phytotherapy Research, 37(11), 4870–4884. https://doi.org/10.1002/ptr.7972
2. Nasrin, S., Coates, S., Bardhi, K., Watson, C. J. W., Muscat, J. E., & Lazarus, P. (2023). Inhibition of nicotine metabolism by cannabidiol (CBD) and 7-Hydroxycannabidiol (7-OH-CBD). Chemical Research in Toxicology, 36(2), 177–187. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemrestox.2c00259
3. Jiang, S., Lin, C., Wang, Y., Wang, H., Wen, X., Peng, X., Li, X., Peng, Y., Sun, J. P., Lu, Y., & Wang, X. (2023). Cannabidiol analogue CIAC001 for the treatment of Morphine-Induced Addiction by targeting PKM2. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 66(16), 11498–11516. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jmedchem.3c01029
4. Manini, A. F., Yiannoulos, G., Bergamaschi, M. M., Hernández, S., Olmedo, R., Barnes, A. J., Winkel, G., Sinha, R., Jutras‐Aswad, D., Huestis, M. A., & Hurd, Y. L. (2015). Safety and pharmacokinetics of oral cannabidiol when administered concomitantly with intravenous fentanyl in humans. Journal of Addiction Medicine, 9(3), 204–210. https://doi.org/10.1097/adm.0000000000000118
5. Capano, A., Weaver, R. D., & Burkman, E. (2019). Evaluation of the effects of CBD hemp extract on opioid use and quality of life indicators in chronic pain patients: a prospective cohort study. Postgraduate Medicine, 132(1), 56–61. https://doi.org/10.1080/00325481.2019.1685298
6. Trigo, J., Soliman, A., Staios, G., Quilty, L. C., Fischer, B., George, T. P., Rehm, J., Selby, P., Barnes, A. J., Huestis, M. A., & Foll, B. L. (2016). Sativex Associated with Behavioral-Relapse Prevention Strategy as treatment for Cannabis dependence. Journal of Addiction Medicine, 10(4), 274–279. https://doi.org/10.1097/adm.0000000000000229
7. Navarrete, F., García-Gutiérrez, M. S., Gasparyan, A., Austrich-Olivares, A., & Navarrete, F. (2021). Role of cannabidiol in the therapeutic intervention for substance use disorders. Frontiers in Pharmacology, 12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2021.626010
8. Prud’homme, M., Cata, R., & Jutras‐Aswad, D. (2015). Cannabidiol as an intervention for addictive Behaviors: A Systematic Review of the evidence. Substance Abuse: Research and Treatment, 9, SART.S25081. https://doi.org/10.4137/sart.s25081
