Smoking weed ‘can help addicts give up heroin,’ experts claim

Rob Waugh

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Doctors in several American states are experimenting with a new treatment for addiction to heroin and opiate painkillers such as oxycontin – weed.

Doctors in states such as Massachusetts and California are treating addicts with marijuana – already legal on prescription for other disorders.

Lawmakers in Maine are considering adding opiate addiction to the list of conditions which qualify for medical marijuana.

Weed advocates point to recent scientific research which suggests cannabis can help reduce opiate use – but others suggest there’s not enough evidence, according to High Times.

Democrat Diane Russell said, ‘I don’t think it’s a cure for everybody. But why take a solution off the table when people are telling us and physicians are telling us that it’s working?’

(AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Last year, researchers at Columbia University monitored patients undergoing treatment for opiate addiction – and found that patients who smoked weed were more able to sleep, less anxious, and more likely to complete their course.

The researchers also found that dosing patients with dronabinol – a drug consisting of the ‘active’ ingredient in cannabis, THC – helped with withdrawal symptoms.

The study authors said, ‘One of the interesting study findings was the observed beneficial effect of marijuana smoking on treatment retention.

‘Participants who smoked marijuana had less difficulty with sleep and anxiety and were more likely to remain in treatment as compared to those who were not using marijuana, regardless of whether they were taking dronabinol or placebo.’