6 Ways Medical Cannabis Can Help with Opioid Addiction

For decades, various researches and studies have continued to be carried out to establish medicinal properties associated with cannabis. While this research is ongoing, it’s worth noting that seeing an online medical marijuana doctor in New York may help you access treatment to various conditions like treatment of nausea in cancer patients, treatment of neuropathic pain in multiple sclerosis, and so forth. To know more, you can look here.

Cannabis has a chemical known as cannabidiol (CBD) and THC that enables it to be used as a medicinal component. In 2014, a study funded by NIDA established that states that had legalized the use of marijuana had recorded slower rates of opioid overdose death rates in comparison to states that had not legalized the use of cannabis.

Such studies continue to prove that cannabis when used as a medicine, helps reduce opioid addiction. Here are six ways in which medical cannabis can help with opioid addiction:

Helps in Reducing Chronic Pain in Opioid Addicts

Cannabis proves helpful when used as an alternative in opioid medications for patients coping with chronic pain. When an opioid addict seeks to withdraw from the drug, one of the main withdrawal symptoms is chronic pain. When cannabis is used, it acts as an antidote to the pain, certainly helping a patient cope. However, this does not mean that the use of cannabis will discourage opioid use should the patient become addicted again. It simply means that during medication, cannabis helps ease the pain.

Helps Prevent Relapse

Although not thoroughly researched, medicinal cannabis helps in preventing relapse in patients weaning off opioids. These findings result from research carried out in a facility where the administration would use medicinal cannabis to assist patients in battling opioid addiction. When weaning off opioids, a patient goes through insomnia, flu-like symptoms, and bone pain. Such complications discourage many from fighting the addiction, therefore relapsing. However, the use of medicinal cannabis helps an addict fight such conditions by assisting in detoxification.

Help Fight Depression and Anxiety

Among the symptoms associated with opioid addiction were depression and anxiety. In a research carried out, a patient with a 51.4% rate of depression and anxiety registered a decrease of such prevalence when medical cannabis was introduced in their treatment. The rate of depression would decrease to 21.4% after the use of MM (medical marijuana) was introduced in the treatment. Medical cannabis helps moderate pain and anxiety associated with opioid addiction, helping patients at risk of depression and anxiety.

Help Mitigate Opioid-related Cravings

Use of cannabis when fighting opioid addiction helps in fighting opioid-related cravings. Medical cannabis acts as potential mitigation in assisting a patient looking to dissociate themselves with opioid use. According to research carried out in Canada, a patient that incorporates medicinal cannabis into their treatment is less likely to experience opioid-related cravings. Furthermore, medicinal cannabis acts as a protective treatment when helping a patient overcome opioid addiction.

Improve the Impact of Opioid Disorder Treatments

When a patient is weaned from opioid addiction, opioid use disorder (OUD) treatments are administered to prevent relapse or overdose. However, it has been found that when medicinal cannabis is incorporated into OUD treatments, it improves the impact of these treatments in weaning off a patient from the addiction. Medicinal cannabis has great potential in reducing the consumption of opioids, preventing opioid relapse, and ease distress caused when withdrawing from opioids.

Help Reduce the Use of Opioid

While medical cannabis is used as an alternative in treating opioid addiction, it is seen to help reduce the use of opioids in addicts. In research carried out in 2020, the use of medicinal cannabis while using opioids resulted in a decrease in usage of the latter. A patient who regularly injected themselves with opioids was more likely to stop using the drug when using medicinal cannabis. While this may not be an improvement to be recorded, researchers stated that medical cannabis was less harmful than opioids.

While various research states that the use of medical cannabis to help with opioid addiction is not conclusive, it has been seen to help in reducing opioid-related deaths resulting from overdose. There is a need to mitigate risks associated with the opioid crisis. Therefore, any medicinal substance found to decrease the chances is worth being used as an alternative treatment when treating opioid addiction. This explains why despite medical cannabis being a recreational drug, its use as an alternative drug in fighting opioid addiction has more benefits than risks.