Using cannabis to cure alcoholism

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Curb alcohol consumption through the non-addictive cannabis compound CBD

As it has been routinely seen during a serious crisis in past decades, alcohol sales all over the country have increased significantly in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Amid this global health emergency in which most people the US are following stay-at-home orders, they are finding themselves drinking at odd times of the day, which was not normal before the pandemic. Experts believe this situation will bring problems in the longer term; however, cannabidiol (CBD) might be a good treatment that can be used to curb the alcohol intake, according to a recent study.

The study was published in the journal Frontiers in Pharmacology a year ago. It suggested that CBD reduces the amount of alcohol a person drinks, as well as help protect the liver from the damage created by excessive alcohol consumption. “By reducing alcohol-related processes of steatosis in the liver, and brain alcohol-related damage, CBD could improve both the hepatic and neurocognitive outcomes of subjects with AUD, regardless of the individual drinking trajectories. This might pave the way for testing new harm reduction approaches in AUD, i.e., for protecting the organs of subjects with an ongoing AUD,” explained the study’s author.

CBD hasn’t been in the market that long; therefore, there is still some research that needs to happen to understand with more detail how this cannabis compound works in the body to help heavy drinkers. One study also showed that CBD seems to be helpful even to reduce the number of cigarettes a person can use; this means that overall CBD is effective in treating addictive behaviors.