Opioids are now responsible for the deaths of 90 Americans each day , roughly the same number as die in car accidents . And while the vast majority of people who legally obtain prescription opioids do not go on to abuse illegal substances , 80 percent of heroin users in the States started their habit after abusing prescription opioids like Oxycontin .
There is some debate about whether the policy-driven reduction in opioid prescription has led a significant number of people to seek out heroin , which is cheaper , stronger and easier to obtain . What we do know is that heroin itself is deadlier than ever . It is increasingly laced with fentanyl , which is so strong that first responders treating overdoses have themselves overdosed just by touching or inhaling small amounts of the drug .
With tighter oversight and the private sector making up just one percent of prescriptions , the UK ’ s opioid situation is far less dire . Nonetheless , many fear that the UK is on the precipice of an opioid crisis of its own .
Opioid prescription in England nearly doubled in the past decade and more than three million UK adults were prescribed opioid medications in 2017 . Almost all these prescriptions were for chronic pain . Between one third and a half of the UK ’ s population suffers from chronic pain , with many being prescribed ineffective opioid drugs to paper over the cracks .
The effectiveness of CBD and other cannabinoids on treating chronic pain was investigated in a 2012 studypublished in the Journal of Experimental Medicine . The researchers reported that administration of CBD in rodents significantly suppressed chronic inflammatory and neuropathic pain without causing a tolerance .
The researchers concluded : “ These cannabinoids may represent a novel class of therapeutic agents for the treatment of chronic pain and other diseases involving GlyR [ glycine receptor ] dysfunction .” The glycine receptor is involved in pain perception .
Vaping is by far the most effective method of ingestion . Vapourised CBD enters your lungs and diffuses straight into your bloodstream , bypassing the gut and liver . Around 50 or 60mg per 100mg of CBD ingested this way will enter your bloodstream , compared to 15mg of 100mg when swallowed . This results in greater pain relief and the fastest possible onset , enabling users to respond to pain as it occurs . CBD may also help the other problem integral to the opioid epidemic – addiction . A 2013 study conducted in Greece found that not only does CBD not exhibit reinforcing properties at any dose , it actually decreases the reward-facilitating effects of morphine . CBD is both non-addicting and alleviates the addictive effect of the opioid drug .
Similar findings were reported in Nature earlier this year . Researchers found that after being administered CBD , rats addicted to cocaine or alcohol were less likely to relapse and also showed reduced anxiety and impulsivity – two symptoms synonymous with addiction . The effect lasted a full five months after the last dose was administered .
In The Role of Cannabis Legalization in the Opioid Crisis published earlier this year , JAMA Internal Medicine reported that opioids were being prescribed less in states where medical marijuana was legal , indicating that cannabis was filling the role previously filled by prescription opioids like Oxycontin and Vicodin . They also found that opioids and cannabinoids “ shared signalling pathways central to tolerance , dependence and addiction .”
While it ’ s important to note that illegal cannabis component THC appears to play a greater role in relieving pain , these early studies suggestthat CBD and other legal cannabinoids do have significant potential on their own . Partnered with the efficient and fast onset provided by vaping , CBD could help bring decades of chronic opioid over-prescription to an end .
“ CBD IS BOTH NON-ADDICTING AND ALLEVIATES THE ADDICTIVE EFFECT OF THE OPIOID DRUG … VAPOURISED CBD ENTERS YOUR LUNGS AND DIFFUSES STRAIGHT INTO YOUR BLOODSTREAM ”
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