A new study has found that cannabidiol (CBD), a natural compound found in the cannabis plant, can reduce the craving for alcohol in people suffering from alcoholism. Unlike THC, the psychoactive component of cannabis, CBD does not cause intoxication.
The findings, published in Molecular Psychiatry, provide the first clinical evidence that CBD may help with alcohol addiction.
The Need for Better Alcohol Addiction Treatments
Alcohol use disorder is one of the most common and devastating health conditions worldwide. Despite this, there are only a few medications approved for its treatment, and most patients relapse even when using these medications. This highlights the need for new and more effective treatments.
Preclinical studies in animals have suggested that CBD could help reduce alcohol consumption. However, until now, no clinical trials had tested CBD’s effects on humans. The new study, called the ICONIC study (Investigation of the effects of Cannabidiol ON cue-InduCed alcohol craving and nucleus accumbens activation), aimed to fill this research gap.
How the Study Was Conducted
The study was conducted at the Central Institute of Mental Health (CIMH) in Mannheim, Germany. It included 28 participants between the ages of 18 and 60 who had mild to severe alcohol-related illness. The participants were randomly divided into two groups:
- One group received a single dose of 800 mg of CBD.
- The other group received a placebo.
The participants were then exposed to alcohol-related stimuli, such as images of alcoholic drinks or environments that resembled a bar. They reported their level of craving for alcohol using questionnaires. Meanwhile, researchers used MRI scans to measure brain activity in the nucleus accumbens (NAc), a key brain region involved in addiction and reward processing.
CBD’s Impact on Alcohol Cravings
The study found that participants who took CBD reported a significantly lower craving for alcohol compared to those who received a placebo.
Additionally, brain scans revealed that those in the CBD group had lower activation in the nucleus accumbens, the brain’s reward center. This is important because heightened activity in this brain region is linked to addiction and relapse.
The researchers also found that the higher the CBD concentration in a person’s blood, the lower their craving for alcohol and nucleus accumbens activity.
What This Means for Alcohol Addiction Treatment
Professor Patrick Bach, the study’s lead researcher, emphasized the significance of the findings: “Our study provides initial and clear evidence that cannabidiol can help to reduce the craving for alcohol and change the brain activity associated with addiction.”
However, more research is needed before CBD can be recommended as a treatment for alcohol addiction. Researcher Sina Vetter pointed out that the study was small, and it remains unclear whether CBD’s effects are long-lasting or if they apply to all individuals with alcohol addiction.
Next Steps in Research
The CIMH research team is now planning a follow-up study, ICONICplus, to investigate whether combining CBD with naltrexone—a medication already used to treat alcohol addiction—provides additional benefits.
This study will compare CBD treatment with standard treatments to determine if it could be a viable new option for alcohol addiction therapy.
While these findings are promising, further research will be needed to confirm CBD’s effectiveness and understand how it might be best used to help people struggling with alcohol addiction.
If you care about cannabis, please read studies that what you need to know about cannabis and heart attack, and CBD from cannabis may help inhibit COVID-19 infection.
For more information about cannabis, please see recent studies that medical cannabis could help reduce depression, and results showing this stuff in cannabis may protect aging brain, treat Alzheimer’s.
The research findings can be found in Molecular Psychiatry.
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