The rats had a history of self-administering alcohol or cocaine – addict-like behaviour.
Anti-drug campaigners like to portray weed as a ‘gateway’ drug which leads on to harder substances – but could cannabis actually stop addicts relapsing?
A preclinical study has shown that an ingredient in cannabis, CBD, may help to stop addicts relapsing to take drugs such as cocaine and alcohol. ‘Cannabidiol’ (CBD), is a chemical from cannabis which campaigners claim helps with diseases including cancer and Crohn’s disease. Crucially, CBD products don’t contain any THC, the chemical in cannabis which causes the high. Researchers led by Friedbert Weiss at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California applied a gel containing CBD to the skin of rats. The rats had a history of self-administering alcohol or cocaine – addict-like behaviour.
The gel reduced relapse caused by stress, the researchers said, and the effects were still visible five months later. Weiss said, ‘The results provide proof of principle supporting the potential of CBD in relapse prevention along two dimensions: beneficial actions across several vulnerability states, and long-lasting effects with only brief treatment. ‘Drug addicts enter relapse vulnerability states for multiple reasons. Therefore, effects such as these observed with CBD that concurrently ameliorate several of these are likely to be more effective in preventing relapse than treatments targeting only a single state.’
By Rob Waugh – Metro
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