Doctors find CBD May Help with Addiction

For many years, marijuana has been called a gateway drug – meaning that it was a drug that led to taking other more powerful and harmful drugs – but now some rehabilitation and addiction doctors are experimenting with CBD oils from its cousin the hemp plant as a way to help manage substance addiction to hard drugs and alcohol. Researchers has found that the body’s endocannabinoid system (ECS) role in reward signalling may result in repetitive substance use.

Cannabidiol (CBD) can interact naturally with the body’s ECS receptors (CB1R in particular) to give a non-rewarding but gratifying serotonin boost and helping recovering addicts manage their wellbeing. The added holistic benefit of supplementing treatment with a mood enhancing but non-intoxicating and non-addictive plant medicine with zero side effects means that therapists can begin to work on the behaviours that leave many addicts in distress.