According to a preliminary study from researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, cannabidiol, otherwise known as CBD, can reduce cravings and anxiety in subjects with a history of heroin use.
The trial had 42 former heroin users who are currently reporting as drug-free. The trial studied to see if CBD altered the user’s psychological and physiological responses when confronted with drug-related cues such as a video showing heroin-related paraphernalia.
As part of the trial, the subjects had been given one of two different strengths of CBD solution, or a placebo. They were then shown two short videos, one had neutral scenes of nature, and the other filled with cues designed to trigger heroin cravings.
The subjects’ responses were then recorded which ranged from self-reported senses of anxiety and drug cravings, to physiological signs such as skin temperature, blood pressure, heart rate, and cortisol levels in saliva.
The tests were repeated daily for three days, with the subjects’ responses to the cues tracked across the test days and then again a week after the final CBD treatment.
Yasmin Hurd, first author on the new research and director of the Addiction Institute at Mount Sinai, remarked, “Our findings indicate that CBD holds significant promise for treating individuals with heroin use disorder,” says Hurd. “A successful non-opioid medication would add significantly to the existing addiction medication toolbox to help reduce the growing death toll, enormous health care costs, and treatment limitations imposed by stringent government regulations amid this persistent opioid epidemic.”
The study has been published in the American Journal of Psychiatry.