Addiction is a condition which involves craving for something wildly and losing control over its use. As a result, keeping the usage of something within normal ranges can become impossible when someone gets addicted to something. Anyone who has struggled with an addiction understands how avoiding something they are craving for will cause long-term harm to the mental health of a person.
In the past, a misconception was that morally weak people who lacked strong willpower were primarily vulnerable to addictions. However, the most recent research has proved that this concept is absolutely wrong. So, today all addictions are qualified in the category of severe diseases that can leave life-changing consequences on their victims. A strong addiction, as researchers put it, is a brain disease as drugs change the structure of the brain and upset its healthy functioning. Because of it, the brain cannot differentiate between feelings of pleasure and pain sensation. And this gives rise to compulsive behaviors. But researchers say that in a way it is similar to other diseases in which an organ is affected, and, hence, it is curable and preventable.
There are a great number of medications for treating strongest addictions or just alleviating a patient’s withdrawal condition. However, they all have very strong side effects which at times make patients unwilling to administer them.
The recent research on CBD has shown that the most potent dose of CBD can control cravings associated with substance abuse and exert medicinal effects on some types of addiction, such as tobacco, marijuana, heroin and opioid addiction.
So, further in this article we are going to leave no stone unturned to describe the risk factors that can lead to developing addictions and the benefits of CBD in this respect.
What Are the Key Factors Contributing To Addictions?
Research shows that drug abuse starts in adolescence. This is most probably because trying something new is part of maturing, trying to evaluate the risks and make their own decisions. Besides, at this age teens are usually influenced by their peers the most, it is like doing something that everybody is doing. Thus, like with many other diseases, certain factors can affect the likelihood of addiction development. Among them are biological and environmental factors, or sometimes even combinations of these.
A person’s unique biology, i.e. genes, age, gender can play a crucial role in developing drug abuse and addiction. The most important biological factors leading to addictions comprise genetics, gender, mental disorders, ethnicity, and many others. Of these, heredity proves to be a key risk factor for addiction.
However, environmental factors are no less important as they are connected to a person’s surroundings and the influences that he/she is subjected to on a daily basis. Among these factors the most wide-spread ones are the availability of drugs, social and other stressors. For teens the most powerful factors are, of course, lack of family involvement and peer pressure especially during the teenage years. Conversely, a strong child-parent bond can be a protective factor, and, as a result, have a stronger and greater impact on decreasing the likelihood of developing an addiction in the early years. Other factors include inadequate social skills, low academic achievement and taking a highly addictive drug.
Along with the risk factors there are also a number of protective factors which are imperative in dealing with addictions, such as parent or family support and engagement in the lives of teenagers, anti-drug policies, self-control, and many more. To create more protective factors we should first learn what it is to be an addict.
What Does It Feel Like Being Addicted?
Well, to start with, everybody’s experience with addictions is unique. As we have observed above it may have various origins. Genetic predisposition comes at the top of the list, like inheriting their parents’ addictive personality. Usually, children whose parents abuse drugs are most likely to develop behavioural problems, which in its turn creates favourable conditions for addiction development.
Thus, teenagers with some behavioural problems start to be dissatisfied with who they are, partly because of the damaging environment at home, or partly because of some failures at school or in relationships. The things that others around them enjoy do not feel good to them. They start to look for something new to try, new things, new experiences. So here comes in peer pressure or influence. They take a drug, and instantly everything feels great. Thus, they avoid those people who do not approve of their actions, and, on the contrary, strive to spend more time with those among whom they do not feel like an outsider. And by the by they suck. The more their parents pan them, the more they want to experience peace and comfort from the addiction. However, most of them acknowledge that it does more harm than good to them and determine to quit it. And here comes a struggle against cravings.
There are several steps they need to take once they decide to overcome addictions. The most important thing here is to realise that craving may be short-lived. Accepting it as it is and thinking that unpleasant feelings will soon fade away will help them after a while.
Changing the environment can be of great help, too: replacing it with a very different from the one where they became addicted. And, of course, to experience more peaceful pleasure in small things in life and getting through challenges without yielding to addictions again.
Last but not least, CBD can be of great assistance in overcoming these cravings and putting an end to addictions.
How Can CBD Help You To Overcome Addiction?
The study of all the beneficial properties of CBD is still at its young age, but there is enough evidence to prove that consistent use of CBD can exert a positive effect on the prevention of relapsing disorder in drug use by alleviating anxiety, depression and stress related to drug use. Moreover, CBD has an influence on the part of the brain responsible for drug craving. So, CBD proves to be the right treatment for addictions and there are many studies to back this up.
Some experiments held on rats in 2009, have reported that when the rats have been deprived of heroin, which they received for some time, and given CBD instead, there was a considerable decrease of relapsing behaviour when they were subjected to heroin-associated cue.
In a 2015 study of CBD in humans the researchers claimed that a single administration of CBD by opioid-dependent people, can decrease cue-induced craving of opioids.
Thus, we see that CBD can be a natural, safe and non-addictive way to help in opioid use disorder treatment.
Many people with opioid use disorders are searching for alternative treatments to reduce anxiety and eliminate cravings, as they are unwilling to try methadone and suboxone, i.e. agonist treatments. Hence, the research proves that they can benefit from Epidolex (cannabidiol approved by the FDA), however, we need more comprehensive studies to confirm all this. Meanwhile many individuals have already turned to cannabis in their fight against addictions and are satisfied with the results.
CBD Versus Alternative Treatments of Addictions
According to professionals, the best way to treat addictions is a holistic approach that includes helping the patients mentally, physically, and spiritually. Such approach involves acupuncture, meditation, massages, yoga, and the use of natural medications. They all work in sync to alleviate the withdrawal symptoms, reduce stress, anxiety, and depression. Besides, CBD has also a calming effect, which is a great help in the treatment of addictions, if taken in higher dosages before going to bed.
However, if you are prone to use CBD to help with addictions, it would be a good idea to consult your doctor to get the necessary recommendations.
What Dosage of CBD Will Help the Most with Addictions?
Actually, the starting dose of CBD is 25 milligrams. However, in some medical studies on CBD, you can come across much higher doses reaching up to hundreds of milligrams a day.
CBD Capsules, softgels, gummies
The dosage of CBD in gummies, softgels and capsules is about 50 milligrams. The disadvantage of these ways of consuming CBD is that they do not offer dosage flexibility. If you want a higher dose you will have to double the overall dose and take one more.
CBD oil
Things are much easier and more straightforward with CBD oil consumption. While doing your first steps in the addiction treatment, it will be quite rational to start with a lighter CBD dose. The label on the bottle may say that there is 1500mg of CBD in the 30 ml bottle, or 500 mg CBD in the 10 ml bottle. Bot how to decode the most effective dosage? Here is the key to it.
The volume of a single drop in the dropper is approximately o,o5 ml. In a 30 ml bottle there is 50 mg of CBD per milliliter, with each drop containing 2,5mg of CBD. For example, a 30 ml bottle will serve you 60 days if you want to take 25 mg of CBD daily. This is a starting dose, but if you want to achieve more tangible results in the addiction treatment, higher doses of CBD should be taken, 400 or 800 mg of CBD per day. Many studies report that the most potent doses, like 1500 mg of CBD a day, are usually well-tolerated by these patients. Besides, the latter report that when cravings get out of control the highest doses of CBD have more obvious results. However, patients are different and so are their reactions to CBD ingestion.
Just remember, that your choice of CBD product will basically depend on your preference and your budget as the price of the products varies according to their potency and the processes of extraction and manufacturing.
