In a world ravaged by the opioid epidemic, researchers have begun to look for ways to help patients manage pain without resorting to addictive and dangerous drugs. One promising approach is cannabis.
Unfortunately, cannabis has a long list of hurdles to overcome before it can be studied as an effective therapy. These include its status as a Schedule I drug, which means that it is illegal to buy and sell in the United States.
Symptoms
Experiencing a rush of euphoria after taking opioids can be a warning sign that you may be at risk for developing an addiction. This feeling of euphoria occurs when the drug stimulates the release of endorphins, your brain’s feel-good neurotransmitters.
These endorphins numb your pain and boost feelings of pleasure, creating a sense of well-being. However, when people take an opioid repeatedly over time, their bodies become accustomed to the drugs. This is called tolerance, and people who have developed tolerance to opioids typically take higher doses in order to experience the euphoria again.
Opioid addiction is a serious condition that can be deadly. It is a complex illness that affects people from all walks of life and from every socioeconomic class.
Individuals with a substance abuse disorder (such as opioid addiction) develop behavior and thought patterns that make it difficult to manage their daily lives. They often find it hard to hold a job or maintain healthy relationships, and they may begin to have difficulty with cognitive function and judgment.
When a person with an opioid use disorder stops using their medications, they will experience withdrawal symptoms. These can include nausea, vomiting, cold and flu-like symptoms, muscle aches, sweating, shakiness, insomnia, headaches, dizziness, and a runny nose.
If you or someone you love is suffering from opioid addiction, it is crucial to seek professional treatment as soon as possible. Medications such as methadone and buprenorphine can help relieve withdrawal symptoms and help prevent relapse.
Patients may also receive group therapy, relapse prevention training, vocational and educational services, mental health assessment and other forms of support. These services are often necessary in order to help patients stay clean and sober long-term.
Another important aspect of the treatment process is the removal of unused opioids from a patient’s home. Leaving prescription bottles in the medicine cabinet or throwing unused medication in the trash can lead to other people accessing them and potentially using them inappropriately.
Keeping opioids out of the reach of children and other family members can prevent these risks from occurring. It’s also a good idea to store unused medications in a locked medicine cabinet or to dispose of them properly.
Treatment
Treatments for opioid addiction can be a long process. Medications and counseling help people overcome their addiction and avoid withdrawal symptoms. Behavioral therapy can also help people change the way they think and feel.
Many states allow people with opioid use disorder to try marijuana instead of prescription painkillers like OxyContin and Percocet. This approach has been a success in some cases.
Some studies have shown that cannabis can reduce opioid dependence and increase the chances of a patient staying in treatment longer. However, there’s still not enough evidence to recommend it for everyone.
There are two main reasons why: One is that most cannabis trials are relatively small, and they don’t follow patients for months like pharmaceutical companies do in their clinical trials. Another reason is that people ingest different amounts of THC and other cannabinoids in different ways, so it’s hard to know the exact dose they receive.
Researchers in Canada, where medical marijuana has been legal since 2001, are conducting studies to see if adding cannabis to an opioid prescription can help reduce the amount of pain pills a person needs over time. They’re also looking at whether it can prevent tolerance and dependence from developing.
The results of these studies could have a big impact on the way doctors and their patients use opioids. And they could help curb the opioid epidemic that’s ravaging the country.
If combining cannabinoids with opioids reduces the dosage and prevents tolerance and dependence, it could be a big step forward in fighting the opioid crisis. And it could be especially useful in treating chronic pain, which is often accompanied by a high level of opioid use.
It may even help those who are in medically supervised detox. But it’s not an option for everyone, so healthcare providers need to be careful about who they prescribe it to.
Several states, including New York, Colorado and Illinois, allow health professionals to recommend cannabis instead of prescription painkillers for some patients with opioid use disorder. And some are experimenting with adding cannabis to methadone, which can help patients stay in treatment longer and have fewer side effects.
Prevention
Prescription opioids and non-prescription drugs, including heroin, fentanyl, prescription painkillers and counterfeit pills, are the primary cause of overdose deaths in the United States. The epidemic has reached an alarmingly high level, affecting all ages and communities across the country.
Opioid addiction is a chronic brain disease that causes people to compulsively seek and use drugs, even when they are harmful to health or safety. It can happen quickly or take years of long-term drug use to develop.
Addiction is a serious medical condition that can result in death, disability and a life of financial hardship. Symptoms include withdrawal, craving, difficulty controlling use and increased use. A person with an opioid use disorder may also have a mental health problem, such as depression or anxiety.
Cannabis is a plant with multiple active ingredients, which are called cannabinoids. It has many uses and can be consumed for medicinal or recreational purposes. It is smoked, chewed or ingested in edible forms such as cookies or sips from a vaporiser, which heats the plant to temperatures that release its cannabinoids while minimizing toxins associated with burning.
The effects of marijuana depend on a number of factors, including the amount used, frequency and timing. In particular, those who start using before they are 18 are at a higher risk of developing a cannabis use disorder.
Early and frequent use of cannabis can have negative effects on a child’s development, such as poor cognitive function, decreased physical growth and developmental delays. It can also affect a child’s ability to control impulses, leading to problems such as hyperactivity and aggression.
Marijuana use during pregnancy may cause fetal growth restriction, premature birth, stillbirth and problems with the baby’s brain development. It can also pass from the mother to the baby through the breast milk.
Smoking cannabis can cause lung damage and respiratory problems, such as coughing, asthma, bronchitis and emphysema. It can also raise your chances of getting a cold or flu.
Parents and guardians should be informed about the risks of misuse and illicit drug use. They can teach their children how to resist the temptation to experiment with drugs, to resist pressure to use and to understand that there are consequences for drug misuse, such as social and academic failure, overdose and drug-related violence. In addition, they can offer support for themselves or a family member who is struggling with drug misuse or addiction.
Side Effects
In addition to alleviating withdrawal symptoms, there are a few other ways that cannabis can help those struggling with opioid addiction. For example, it may make opioids less pleasurable, which can reduce the urge to use them or the cravings that lead to relapse. It also may reduce some of the side effects and withdrawal symptoms that can come from using methadone, another drug used to treat opioid addiction.
In fact, one survey found that people who used cannabis with methadone misused fewer opioids than those who did not. However, the science behind this is still a bit unclear.
Researchers in Canada looked at the way cannabis and opioids affect patients in treatment for opioid addiction. They asked about their past-month use of cannabis (self-report), and then looked at how it affected their opioid use during their treatment. They also looked at whether cannabis use was related to certain side effects and cravings that can sometimes happen with opioids, such as depression or anxiety.
They found that cannabis was associated with a lower likelihood of using opioids during treatment, but they didn’t find any evidence that it reduced the chances of overdose or that it lowered the amount of opioids that people used. They also found that women were more likely to use cannabis than men, and that they were more likely to report negative feelings, such as anxiety or depression, when they did use cannabis.
There are many different types of cannabis and some are more beneficial than others. For example, CBD, or cannabidiol, is a non-psychoactive compound in cannabis that doesn’t get you high. It’s said to have a lot of medical benefits, but there’s not a lot of information on its use for pain.
Several studies have looked at how cannabis helps with other symptoms of opioid addiction, like cravings and withdrawal. For instance, one study showed that CBD reduces opioid cravings and withdrawal symptoms in rats. In other research, it’s been shown that CBD can decrease the stress and anxiety that can cause opioid use in people with an opioid use disorder.
