4. So is Mother Nature

One of the most talked about methods for battling withdrawal is kratom, a little-known herb made from the leaves of a tree that grows on the other side of the world, a.k.a. Southeast Asia. Kratom is an unregulated drug that is used for anything from making tea, treating insomnia and relieving chronic pain. It has been recently suggested that kratom may help alleviate heroin and opioid withdrawal.

I am seeing more and more opiate addicts who are not getting medically detoxed, use it to get through the discomfort. Does it work? Yes. But is it safe? The DEA is trying to criminalize kratom and the FDA has not approved its use because of its addictive qualities —meaning, you can also become physically addicted, if taken over longer periods of time.

Kratom is described as stimulating at lower doses and more sedating at higher doses. Most would agree it’s far less powerful and much less addictive than prescription painkillers but its effects are very similar —it just depends on the strain, how much was consumed as well as your individual chemistry. Remember though, addiction isn’t about drugs, it’s about brains. The reward pathway that is triggered by opioids is the real culprit behind opioid addiction.

By constantly stimulating the reward pathway, patients get hooked. The drugs are no longer about pain, they are about maintaining an increasingly difficult-to-get payoff from this one specific pathway in the brain. Stop that pathway from firing and the withdrawals withers. Stop the reward pathway and addiction subsides, life resumes, which is where CBD comes into play.

Significant medical benefits are attributed to the non-intoxicating sister molecule of THC called CBD or cannabidiol. CBD has been shown to reduce the side effects caused by THC and enhance the benefits of THC. In animal studies, CBD has been shown to decrease addictive behavior. Medical scientists found that the heroin-seeking behavior of self-administering rats decreased when the animals were given CBD.

During the decades of prohibition, cannabis breeders grew strains that had more and more THC (the high causer) and less and less of the sister cannabinoids because that’s what sells on the black market. People want to buy something that’s pleasantly intoxicating. But recently there’s been a shift, a complete reversal, where people who are medical patients want serious symptom relief, they want the medical benefits, but many people don’t want to get high or impaired.

At a time when America is searching for solutions to a burgeoning opiate problem that kills 46 Americans a day, a new tool for jumpstarting the fragile recovery process is emerging: cannabis. Proven to alleviate symptoms of serious medical conditions including cancer, AIDS, Crohn’s disease, and glaucoma —marijuana as well as other cannabis products are beginning to gain notice as an effective alternative to synthetic painkillers as well as opioid withdrawal.

On top of providing relief from the physical pain associated with opioid withdrawal, experts suggest it can help your emotional state of mind as well. Marijuana and CBD can calm you  —making any anxiety and nausea symptoms go way down. They can also help your appetite because chances are, you won’t be able to eat, especially when the withdrawals first start.