In-depth Article:
CBD and Opioid Addiction Recovery

Questions About CBD and Opioid Addiction Recovery? Introduction, Part 1

This article discusses CBD Oil and its potential value as a piece of the Addiction Recovery puzzle. This article will be split between two posts.

In both posts, groovyhempcompan.com draws on different sources to give the reader different perspectives on the ongoing nightmare of addiction.

In all cases, full attribution is given, including live links to the source material (written articles and videos).

The 1st post discusses CBD and Opioid Addiction Recovery. It includes a brief introduction to the Opioid Epidemic and Opioid Addiction Withdrawal. 

There is a section focused on different looks at CBD and Opioid Addiction Recovery. 

Additionally, there is a very concise section on Marijuana and Opioid Addiction Recovery.

The 2nd post will focus on more specific issues related to CBD Oil and its impact on Addiction Recovery.

Please continue reading to learn more about this important issue.

CBD and Opioid Addiction Recovery: Introduction, Part 2

According to a February 2, 2022, report from the Stanford-Lancet Commission on the North American Opioid Crisis, 600,000 people have died from the Opioid epidemic since 1999.

The report further comments, “Without urgent intervention, 1.2 million people in the U.S. and Canada will die from opioid overdoses by the end of the decade.”

Opioids are a broad group of pain-relieving medicines that work with your brain cells. Opioids can be manufactured from the poppy plant, e.g., morphine (Duramorph, MS Contin, others). Heroin also comes from the poppy plant.

Opioids can also be formulated in a laboratory, e.g., fentanyl (Actiq and Fentora). Other well-known opioids include codeine, hydrocodone (Vicodin), and oxycodone (OxyContin, Roxybond, and others). And there are many more.

Opioid medicines travel through the bloodstream and attach to opioid receptors in brain cells. This blocks pain messages and can increase feelings of pleasure.

What is Addiction Recovery?

From Dan Mager, MSW, the author of Some Assembly Required: A Balanced Approach to Recovery from Addiction and Chronic Pain and Roots and Wings: Mindful Parenting in Recovery. Dan wrote a definitive article on Addiction and Recovery published in Psychology Today.

Here is an excerpt.

“Addiction is a chronic, progressive, and potentially fatal disorder—like other chronic, life-threatening conditions, such as diabetes, asthma, and heart disease. Like these other illnesses, there is no cure for addiction. However, it can be treated and managed successfully through the process of recovery.

Recovery allows those with addiction to live long, full, and healthy lives. I should know, having been an addiction treatment professional for over two decades and a person in long-term addiction recovery (16+ years currently). “

What Does Recovery Mean?
Dan Mager MSW
Psychology Today Website
Published Online on September 18, 2023.

(Tap or click to read the entire article.)

CBD and Opioid Addiction Recovery, Some Specifics – Part 1

As reported in a TEDMED Talk on October 21, 2020 (viewed on YouTube),

“Over the past 20 years, more than 800,000 people have died in the United States due to drug overdose. Yes, more than all the lives lost in all the wars this country’s fought in. The majority of these cases are due to opioid drugs.

Sadly, while we’re having this very conversation, at least one person will die from a drug overdose. And a child will be born experiencing severe withdrawals due to in utero opioid exposure.”

Dr Hurd further notes, “What about actually developing a non-addictive treatment derived from another drug?

That has been my journey towards trying to develop a treatment for opiate addiction, and it’s taken me in some really surprising directions.”

Which ultimately leads to: “In examining another cannabinoid, Cannabidiol, that is CBD. We were actually surprised to see features relevant to alleviating opioid addiction-related behaviors so there my journey turned to CBD.”

TED Talks of any type are frequently a wonderful combination of interesting and educational. This one is no exception. Make the time to watch this TEDMED Talk. Then watch it again. It will help you better understand the Opioid crisis and CBD’s potential impact on managing the nightmare of Opioid Addiction, including Opioid Withdrawal.

Could CBD help opioid users overcome addiction? (YouTube Video).
Dr. Yasmin Hurd of the Department of Psychiatry, Addiction Institute of Mount Sinai, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York, USA.
YouTube TEDMED Talk Recorded on October 21, 2020.

(Tap or click to watch the entire video.)

CBD and Opioid Addiction Recovery: Addiction is a Disease

Addiction is not a “weakness of character” or any other negative personal characterization. Addiction is a disease, an insidious, terrible disease. People who think otherwise are very badly informed.

An addict’s brain chemistry (AKA neurochemistry) is permanently changed. An addict’s neurochemistry tells the body that it needs the addictive substance.

It is well-documented that one of the worst parts of this disease is withdrawal. Opioids are no different.

CBD and Opioid Addiction Recovery, Some Specifics – Part 2

As reported in Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research Vol. 7, No. 5,

“Opioid use disorder (OUD) is a major public health crisis worldwide.

Patients with OUD inevitably experience withdrawal symptoms when they attempt to taper down on their current opioid use, abstain completely from opioids, or attempt to transition to certain medications for opioid use disorder.

Acute opioid withdrawal can be debilitating and includes a range of symptoms such as anxiety, pain, insomnia, and gastrointestinal symptoms.

Whereas acute opioid withdrawal only lasts for 1–2 weeks, protracted withdrawal symptoms can persist for months after the cessation of opioids.” The researchers further report, “Insufficient management of opioid withdrawal often leads to devastating results, including treatment failure, relapse, and overdose. 

Thus, there is a critical need for cost-effective, nonopioid medications with minimal side effects to help in the medical management of opioid withdrawal syndrome. 

We discuss the potential consideration of cannabidiol (CBD), a nonintoxicating component of the cannabis plant, as an adjunctive treatment in managing the opioid withdrawal syndrome.”

Adjunctive Management of Opioid Withdrawal with the Non-opioid Medication Cannabidiol
Christopher Kudrich(1), Yasmin L. Hurd(1), Edwin Salsitz(1), and An-Li Wang(1)
Publisher: Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.
Publication: Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research Vol. 7, No. 5 (Website)
Published Online on October 12, 2022.

(Tap or click to read the entire article.)

(1) Department of Psychiatry, Addiction Institute of Mount Sinai, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York, USA.

CBD and Opioid Addiction Recovery, Some Specifics – Part 3

As reported in Consumer Reports on YouTube on April 23, 2019 (viewed on YouTube).

Editor’s Note. The following quotes are taken out of sequence from the transcript and will read differently from the actual conversations.

Rachel Rabkin Peachman, Investigative Reporter, Consumer Reports
“The opioid epidemic is a huge problem, and people are eager for any alternative ways to try to ease the problem.”

“Dr. Julia Arnsten, M.D., M.P.H. Chief of General Internal Medicine, Montefiore Medical Center
“CBD is short for cannabidiol, and it’s a compound found in cannabis plants, which includes both hemp and marijuana.

And unlike THC, which is another well-known compound found in cannabis, CBD won’t get you high. We know for sure that when people take opioids over time, they need to take more in order to get the same effect.

And we also know that they have withdrawal if they don’t have opioids onboard.

So most likely what will happen is that there will be some people who will be able to taper off opioids because of cannabis, and there will be a lot of people who are not able to.”

Floyd Landis, Retired Bicycle Racer, Cannabis Entrepreneur
“I would take between 15 and 20 Norco pills a day. You’d be surprised. You’d build up a tolerance to it, and then it doesn’t take long.

Initially, I started using marijuana because I thought, OK, people are saying this is great for pain, and I hadn’t really ever used marijuana.”

“And it’s fun to get high from time to time, but some people don’t function well if they’re high, and I can’t just stay high all day, nor do I want to be.

So over time, we just sort of figured out that, look, the CBD side of it has just as much medicinal benefit as the THC side of it, and I’d prefer the higher CBD strains,”

Veronica Wayne, Navy Veteran
“So, I had gone from basically naproxen, to tramadol, to Vicodin, and oxy, and in the end, I was taking morphine tablets.

And for me, looking back, my mental state just was like, I was there, but I wasn’t.
So, when I made an appointment with my primary care physician at the time, she actually recommended that I go out and get a card for medical marijuana and see if that was effective for me,

I was pretty out of it for a while. And that was one of the effects that I really didn’t like about marijuana.

So, I talked to some of the dispensaries about what can I do to kind of mitigate this feeling, and they had actually suggested trying pure CBD from the hemp plant.

I didn’t really feel relief right away. But I felt like after about 30 days of consistently taking it, I started to feel normal again.”

Can CBD Treat Opioid Addiction? | Consumer Reports (YouTube Video).
Veronica Wayne, Floyd Landis, Rachel Rabkin Peachman, Dr. Julia Arnsten, M.D., M.P.H.
Consumer Reports on YouTube
Video Produced on April 23, 2019.

(Tap or click to watch the entire video.)

CBD and Opioid Addiction Recovery, Can Marijuana Help?

As reported on the Psychology Today Website

“Can cannabis help provide an accessible alternative treatment to people who are addicted to opioids?

Can we use it to help treat chronic pain patients who are stuck on medicinal opioids get off of them?

Can it help prevent future opioid addiction by substituting for opioids?

I believe that doctors should offer to slowly and safely transition these patients from chronic opioid use onto cannabis therapy, which is near-universally associated with an improved quality of life. 

Cannabis and opioids work via overlapping receptors and can work synergistically to control pain. Studies have shown up to an 80 percent dosage in opioid dose with the co-usage of cannabis.

For those unfortunate enough to be addicted to opioids, a formidable obstacle to getting into recovery is the soul-crushing withdrawal symptoms.

I have found personally, as well as professionally, that cannabis is often more effective than the traditional pharmaceutical medications we utilize, such as clonidine or lofexidine, which calm you down a little but don’t address most of the discomfort.”

Can Cannabis Help Alleviate the Opioid Crisis?
Peter Grinspoon, M.D.
Psychology Today Website
Published Online on June 5, 2023.

(Tap or click to read the entire article.)

CBD and Opioid Addiction Recovery, Final Thoughts

Addiction is a disease, and currently, there is no cure. Some people claim to have magical solutions for Opioid Addiction Recovery. Don’t believe them.

No amount of fairy dust, hippie mysticism, and false promises will get the job done. 

However, some dedicated researchers and healthcare and behavioral science professionals are working very hard to help create and implement reality-based Opioid Addiction Management Solutions.

Many Addiction recovery professionals acknowledge that Cannabis, either CBD or Marijuana, could be an important part of an Opioid Addiction Recovery Management Solution.

Will it work for everyone? That is unknown. We know that large-scale clinical studies could progress our knowledge and possibly make a difference.

We also know that medical science has an opportunity to undo some of the damage created by the large-scale use of Opioids, and that is a positive step in the right direction.

Groovy Hemp Company and CBD and Opioid Addiction Recovery, Important Information

Our blog posts and information pages help you learn more about various forms of CBD Oil products and the manufacturers that provide those products. When you visit a product page, there are things to consider.

Make sure you read the product ingredients before you place your order. If you do not understand a CBD Oil-related ingredient, read the mini-glossary directly underneath the ingredients. That way, you will have a better idea of what you are ordering.

The ingredients and usage directions are on each corresponding product page under the Ingredients and Usage Directions tabs.

All products have a current Independent Lab Result (AKA COA) in PDF format for reading, printing, or downloading on each corresponding product page, under the Lab Results tab.

Please take the time to read the post on Understanding a CBD Oil COA.

Keep ALL CBD Oil Products out of the Reach of Children, Especially Small Children.

Groovy Hemp Company and CBD and Opioid Addiction Recovery FAQs

Groovy Hemp Company CBD Learning Center

Groovy Hemp Company provides a free information hub for people who would like to learn more about hemp-based products. That includes: YouTube videos, In-Depth Articles, FAQs, and a Glossary. 

For a more visual look at CBD, Groovy Hemp Company provides a specific page with a collection of CBD-focused YouTube videos. Tap or click to visit our CBD YouTube page.

Or, you can tap or click Groovy Hemp Company YouTube Channel and subscribe. Many thanks!

And please take a few moments to stop by the recently relaunched Groovy Hemp Podcast page. You can also find Groovy Hemp Podcast on many podcast channels, including:

Apple Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, iHeart Radio, Podchaser, Radio Public, Patreon, Amazon Music Podcasts, Pandora, and Deezer.

Our Google Web Stories help you learn more about how CBD Oil, CBG Oil, and CBDA Oil may reduce inflammation and encourage workout recovery after a tough day in the fitness center. They could also manage chronic stressors.

You can also learn how CBD oil might help you get quality sleep. Tap or click to experience our very Groovy Google Web Stories.

CBD and Opioid Addiction Recovery: The Big Wrap-up

As always, our goal is to educate the CBD Oil consumer so they can make better-informed buying decisions.

If you can’t find your answer on a CBD-related issue there, our email address is robb [at] groovyhempcompany [dot] com, or tap or click to email us right now. We will respond within 24 hours.

Please don’t ask us for medical advice. We will suggest you contact your physician.

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Thank you for stopping by and reading CBD and Opioid Addiction Recovery. Happy Trails!

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