High Times‘ Adam Drury reports:

Coming off of a heroin addiction is notoriously difficult. But a new study suggests CBD can make it much easier. According to a study published Tuesday in the American Journal of Psychiatry, cannabidiol (CBD) can significantly reduce cravings in people addicted to opioids and manage withdrawal symptoms. Cravings and abstinence anxiety are two of the most critical features of addiction, and triggering them often contributes to relapses and continued drug use.

The consequences of the United State’s ongoing opioid epidemic have been staggering. Yet there has so far been little effort to develop treatment options for opioid addiction that are themselves not opioid-based—e.g. buprenorphine and methadone. Some states have tried to address this problem by adding opioid replacement qualifications to their medical cannabis programs. 

In New York, for example, patients are automatically eligible for medical cannabis if a doctor prescribes opioids as a treatment for their condition. And multiple studies attest to the anti-inflammatory and pain-reducing properties of THC and CBD.

But cannabis may not only be a safer alternative to opioid painkillers; it may also be the safer, more effective way to ween people off of their addiction to opioids.

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Full story at High Times.