CBD Curbs Cravings and Anxiety of Heroin Addiction, Researchers Find

Cannabidiol (CBD) may be effective in reducing cravings associated with heroin addiction, a new study has indicated.

Participants in the study reported experiencing reduced anxiety induced by drug cues for up to one week after the final administration of CBD, suggesting that the effects are long-lasting, even when the cannabinoid would not be expected to still be present in the body.

“The intense craving is what drives the drug use,” said Yasmin Hurd, Ph.D., the study’s lead researcher,in a statement.

Hurd, who is also director of the Addiction Institute at Mount Sinai, part of the Icahn School of Medicine in New York, hopes that the findings will help pave a medicinally sound path toward reducing opioid dependency and overdose.  

“If we can have the medications that can dampen that [craving], that can greatly reduce the chance of relapse and overdose risk,” she said.