Elizabeth Parker, Class of 2021
Drugs are bad… or are they? In the field of medicine, there are no limits to what can be done, and in the ongoing search to improve healthcare some unlikely remedies have been found. An interesting new study has discovered a surprisingly effective treatment for opioid addiction to be none other than a component of another common recreational drug: cannabis. In a study conducted by neuroscientist Yasmin Hurd, lead researcher for the study and director of the Addiction Institute of Mount Sinai, they found that patients recovering from opioid addiction experienced elevated rates of recovery when given treatments of CBD (Hurd et. al). This finding has major implications for the politics of drugs and the healthcare field.
CBD, also known as cannabidiol, is a naturally occuring compound in the flower of the cannabis plant. It is closely related to tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) which is the phytocannabinoid that causes the infamous high associated with cannabis (What is CBD? Definition of Cannabidiol & CBD Oil). While CBD and THC have very similar chemical makeups and therapeutic properties, CBD behaves differently in the brain and does not give any of the characteristic “stoned” effects that THC does. This makes CBD an optimal choice for various medical treatments of pain that have been thus far addressed with heavier prescription drugs.
With the recent legalization of marijuana and increase in the positivity of public opinion towards the drug, it is becoming easier to explore options that allow marijuana to be used in ways that can be beneficial for healthcare purposes. Just last year in 2018, the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) officially recognized cannabidiol as a legitimate medicine under the government as a pharmaceutical drug named Epidiolex. This is significant, because marijuana has been known throughout the US as a crime rather than a cure, and this decision by the FDA changed the narrative.
CBD is a valuable avenue because it allows people to receive the health benefits of marijuana without the high and with minimal side effects. In some cases, it has even been found to lessen the high effect of other drugs and reduce addictive cravings (CBD for Alcoholism: How Cannabis Can Alleviate the Effects of Withdrawal). For the patients in the Mount Sinai study, all 42 of the participants were suffering from long term addiction (an average of 13 years) to opioids and thus required a treatment that assisted in getting them to reduce strong symptoms of withdrawal. The participants in the study were divided into three different groups: a placebo group, one group with 400 milligrams of CBD, and one group with 800 milligrams of CBD. The groups were given the treatment for three consecutive days and then their progress was observed for two weeks after treatment (Hurd et. al). Just one week after treatment, those that received the CBD treatment experienced a three-fold reduction in heroin cravings as opposed to the placebo group. The levels of cortisol and stress levels of the patients that received cortisol were also significantly lower. For such a small dose of CBD, the contributions to the patient's recovery and overall health were significant in a short amount of time.
The national opioid crisis in the United States is ongoing, and in 2017, the US Department of Health and Human Services declared a public health emergency in light of the pervasiveness of the issue. On average, 130 Americans die per day of opioid overdose and drug overdose is now the leading cause of accidental death in the United States (The Opioid Crisis in America). The struggle to decrease this number and help those suffering from drug addiction has persisted as access to drugs has increased and drug addiction has permeated throughout the country. The government and the healthcare field alike have recognized the significance of the issue, and novel solutions like what was found in the Hurd study have not gone ignored. "This is an extremely significant paper. We need to utilize every possible treatment in helping people with chronic pain to find other ways to manage their symptoms and in people with opiate addiction to find relief," said Dr. Julie Holland, a psychiatrist in New York and former assistant professor of psychiatry at the New York University School of Medicine (Study Finds CBD Effective in Treating Heroin Addiction).
CBD has already been found to be beneficial for treating a variety of ailments including autoimmune diseases, neurological conditions, metabolic syndromes, neuropsychiatric illnesses, gut disorders, cardiovascular dysfunctions, and skin diseases (Project CBD: Medical Marijuana & Cannabinoid Science). Research is currently being conducted to evaluate how cannabis could be used in neurogenesis to stimulate the growth of new brain cells and as an anti-cancer treatment. The scientific community appears to have found a hidden medicinal gold mine in CBD, and the options are limitless for its uses.
References
CBD, also known as cannabidiol, is a naturally occuring compound in the flower of the cannabis plant. It is closely related to tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) which is the phytocannabinoid that causes the infamous high associated with cannabis (What is CBD? Definition of Cannabidiol & CBD Oil). While CBD and THC have very similar chemical makeups and therapeutic properties, CBD behaves differently in the brain and does not give any of the characteristic “stoned” effects that THC does. This makes CBD an optimal choice for various medical treatments of pain that have been thus far addressed with heavier prescription drugs.
With the recent legalization of marijuana and increase in the positivity of public opinion towards the drug, it is becoming easier to explore options that allow marijuana to be used in ways that can be beneficial for healthcare purposes. Just last year in 2018, the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) officially recognized cannabidiol as a legitimate medicine under the government as a pharmaceutical drug named Epidiolex. This is significant, because marijuana has been known throughout the US as a crime rather than a cure, and this decision by the FDA changed the narrative.
CBD is a valuable avenue because it allows people to receive the health benefits of marijuana without the high and with minimal side effects. In some cases, it has even been found to lessen the high effect of other drugs and reduce addictive cravings (CBD for Alcoholism: How Cannabis Can Alleviate the Effects of Withdrawal). For the patients in the Mount Sinai study, all 42 of the participants were suffering from long term addiction (an average of 13 years) to opioids and thus required a treatment that assisted in getting them to reduce strong symptoms of withdrawal. The participants in the study were divided into three different groups: a placebo group, one group with 400 milligrams of CBD, and one group with 800 milligrams of CBD. The groups were given the treatment for three consecutive days and then their progress was observed for two weeks after treatment (Hurd et. al). Just one week after treatment, those that received the CBD treatment experienced a three-fold reduction in heroin cravings as opposed to the placebo group. The levels of cortisol and stress levels of the patients that received cortisol were also significantly lower. For such a small dose of CBD, the contributions to the patient's recovery and overall health were significant in a short amount of time.
The national opioid crisis in the United States is ongoing, and in 2017, the US Department of Health and Human Services declared a public health emergency in light of the pervasiveness of the issue. On average, 130 Americans die per day of opioid overdose and drug overdose is now the leading cause of accidental death in the United States (The Opioid Crisis in America). The struggle to decrease this number and help those suffering from drug addiction has persisted as access to drugs has increased and drug addiction has permeated throughout the country. The government and the healthcare field alike have recognized the significance of the issue, and novel solutions like what was found in the Hurd study have not gone ignored. "This is an extremely significant paper. We need to utilize every possible treatment in helping people with chronic pain to find other ways to manage their symptoms and in people with opiate addiction to find relief," said Dr. Julie Holland, a psychiatrist in New York and former assistant professor of psychiatry at the New York University School of Medicine (Study Finds CBD Effective in Treating Heroin Addiction).
CBD has already been found to be beneficial for treating a variety of ailments including autoimmune diseases, neurological conditions, metabolic syndromes, neuropsychiatric illnesses, gut disorders, cardiovascular dysfunctions, and skin diseases (Project CBD: Medical Marijuana & Cannabinoid Science). Research is currently being conducted to evaluate how cannabis could be used in neurogenesis to stimulate the growth of new brain cells and as an anti-cancer treatment. The scientific community appears to have found a hidden medicinal gold mine in CBD, and the options are limitless for its uses.
References
- Burns, Janet. "CBD May Reduce Cravings, Anxiety In Recovering Heroin Abusers." Forbes, 21 May 2019, www.forbes.com/sites/janetwburns/2019/05/21/cbd-reduces-cravings-anxiety-in-recovering-heroin-abusers-study/#7d0d526d39a4.
- "CBD for Alcoholism: How Cannabis Can Alleviate the Effects of Withdrawal." MarijuanaBreak, 4 Oct. 2017, www.marijuanabreak.com/cbd-for-alcoholism.
- Library, CNN. "Opioid Crisis Fast Facts." CNN, 11 Apr. 2019, www.cnn.com/2017/09/18/health/opioid-crisis-fast-facts/index.html.
- Nadia Kounang, CNN. "Study Finds CBD Effective in Treating Heroin Addiction." CNN, 21 May 2019, www.cnn.com/2019/05/21/health/heroin-opioid-addiction-cbd-study/index.html.
- "The Opioid Crisis in America." Harvard Online Courses, 21 May 2019, online-learning.harvard.edu/course/opioid-crisis-america.
- "What is CBD? Definition of Cannabidiol & CBD Oil." Project CBD: Medical Marijuana & Cannabinoid Science, www.projectcbd.org/cbd-101/what-is-cbd.
- "What is the U.S. Opioid Epidemic?" HHS.gov, 4 Dec. 2017, www.hhs.gov/opioids/about-the-epidemic/index.html
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