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Anti-drug campaigners like to portray weed as a ‘gateway’ drug which leads on to harder substances – but could cannabis actually stop addicts relapsing?

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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.

Could an ingredient in cannabis help addicts to stay clean? Rex

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.’

Could CBD treat psychosis? A clinical trial found that patients treated with CBD (an ingredient in cannabis) had lower levels of psychotic symptoms. Psychosis is characterised by paranoia and hallucinations. The study found patients were more likely to be rated as “improved” by their psychiatrist and there were signs of better cognitive performance and functioning. ‘The study indicated that CBD may be effective in psychosis: patients treated with CBD showed a significant reduction in symptoms, and their treating psychiatrists rated them as having improved overall,’ said lead researcher Philip McGuire. The most common forms of psychosis are part of mental illnesses such as schizophrenia – which affects more than 21 million people worldwide – and bipolar disorder, but psychotic symptoms can also occur in conditions like Parkinson’s disease and alcohol or drug abuse. Last year, a government regulator said that CBD has a ‘restoring’ effect on humans – and is a legitimate medicine. The MHRA (Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulation Agency) says that cannabidiol has a ‘restoring, correcting or modifying’ effect on ‘physiological functions’. ‘Cannabidiol’ (CBD), is a chemical from cannabis which campaigners claim helps with diseases including cancer and Crohn’s disease.