04 Apr

CBD, Alcohol Consumption + Relapse

Chances are, every person reading this article knows at least one person suffering from alcohol addiction or is suffering himself/herself. That’s because alcoholism is actually very common; we have over 3 million cases in the US alone each year! So far this addiction has resisted understanding and a consistent treatment option. As doctors currently understand, alcoholism stems from a combination of unfortunate genetic traits and the readily available, socially-approved nature of alcohol. Additionally, aside from the psychological causes that may have triggered addiction in the first place, recovering alcoholics also face real health consequences as a result of immediately ending consumption. CBD, on the other hand, as we’ve discussed frequently, exerts a calming influence (both psychologically and in terms of reducing cellular inflammation). While there are over 51 possible mechanisms of action of CBD, and any combination of these may be responsible for any given set of effects, CBD’s history as an anti-psychotic is well-documented and would be difficult to debate seriously from a medical perspective. As we’ve mentioned before, CBD, in fact, counter-acts many of the effects of THC, meaning that the racier, trippier strains of cannabis often contain low amounts of CBD or THC only. Given that current alcoholism treatments have a relapse rate of over 70% in the first year, recovery is truly difficult. Many successful approaches are also faith-based, which leaves some individuals in a predicament, and recovering addicts often report several serious attempts at becoming sober before success. Many others die from cumulative alcohol poisoning…

22 Aug

Opioid Withdrawal Treatment: Finding New Roads

Opioids/opiates have provided significant and sometimes life-saving relief to countless patients. They remain some of the strongest painkillers available and can be especially helpful in rendering comfort in otherwise extremely painful terminal illnesses. Opioids work by activating opioid receptors located in the brain, which are densely located in emotion-controlling areas that process pain. Unfortunately, prolonged or extreme use of opioids can lead to dependence, or the body adjusting by limiting natural opioid production and therefore resulting in the body physiologically needing increasing amounts of external opioids to function properly. However, aside from practical issues, high doses of opioids can lead to respiratory failure, death, and other serious health consequences, which means that for all but terminally ill users, opioid withdrawal will eventually occur. Withdrawal is not only unpleasant physically and psychologically (depression, lack of appetite, diarrhea), but potentially life-threatening. In fact, withdrawal is so severe that it can sometimes prevent patients from ending opiate use, causing a downward spiral. As a result, modern doctors are cautious to prescribe opioids and usually seek to wean patients off opioids through slowly decreasing prescriptions. Perhaps more concerning though, aside from medical patients, roughly 4.3 million people in the US alone are currently non-medical users of narcotic pain relievers. Drugs like heroin, hydrocodone, oxycodone, etc. are all opiate-based drugs that are frequently abused for the recreational high. Meanwhile, even drugs intended to wean opiate use, such as buprenorphine, are commonly sold and traded. To date, only compounds that directly activate opioid receptors have been…

06 Jul

Is Cannabis Addictive?

One of the early concerns that dominated the medical cannabis discussion was over both the addictive potential and long-term effects of cannabis. For decades, it has generally been understood by the medical community that cannabis is not physically addictive but can be psychologically addictive. To differentiate, individuals addicted to alcohol cannot suddenly end consumption without risk of death or serious health consequences, because their bodies have learned to literally need alcohol. In contrast, even a frequent cannabis consumer can end consumption immediately without serious health risk. However, this transition might be severely uncomfortable due to the psychological dependence of cannabis use. Some anti-cannabis advocates and researchers alike have pushed for the notion that this dependence is life-long. Researchers from Geneva, Switzerland recently pressed one step forward to directly answer this question by observing changes in brain chemistry during and after chronic cannabis use. To back up, what is addiction and what causes addiction? As researchers note, “the addictive effects of virtually all drugs…are thought to be mediated through activation of mesolimbic dopamine projections to the nucleus accumbens.” Essentially, a neurotransmitter, dopamine, is activated to a greater degree than normal, causing an increased interaction with the part of the brain that deals with decision making, risk, and reward. Dopamine is responsible for a multitude of signaling tasks, but perhaps the most known and most important job is signaling reward. When a user consumes a drug, dopamine is released in the brain, essentially rewarding the user for consuming the drug and teaching…