Quit smoking with CBD

Do you want to stop smoking but, despite all your efforts, can’t? Nicotine is extremely addictive. Everyone who has given up smoking remembers how difficult it was to cope with the craving and the anxiety it generated. CBD can help you through this difficult stage of quitting smoking.

CBD and smoking

The first study on the use of CBD to help smokers quit smoking dates back to 2013. Researchers at University College London suggested that 24 smokers use an inhaler instead of smoking a cigarette whenever they had a craving. 50% of participants used a CBD inhaler while the others had a placebo. After one week, the desire to smoke had decreased significantly in smokers who had consumed CBD (40% fewer cigarettes), whereas there was no change in placebo users. Although the sample size was too small and the experiment was not long enough, this first study laid the foundation for research into the use of cannabinoids to quit smoking.

Researchers have found that CBD is effective at helping people who want to quit smoking by acting on 3 levels: the compulsion to smoke, as well as the physical and psychological dependence on nicotine.

CBD and the compulsion to smoke

Smokers are used to the ritual of lighting up after a meal, a coffee, in the morning or in the evening. And if circumstances prevent a smoker from carrying out this automatic action, they often feel annoyed and anxious before suffering from nicotine withdrawal. Unconsciously associating unrelated actions, such as smoking a cigarette and drinking a coffee, is a well-known cognitive bias.

However, a study carried out in 2018, again by University College London, showed that cannabinoids make it easier for the smoker to break these unconscious associations. Half of the participating smokers took 800 mg of CBD, while the others took a placebo. All of them then looked at images associated with cigarettes: smokers with ashtrays, etc. For the CBD group, these images aroused much less interest and pleasure than in the other group.

CBD and nicotine addiction

Other studies have been conducted on the relationship between cannabinoids and addiction. Nicotine is particularly addictive as it acts on the central nervous system. Nicotine addiction is both psychological and physical.

All people who try to stop smoking mention the same difficulties coping with weaning themselves off nicotine: feelings of withdrawal, anxiety, a certain irritability, difficulty concentrating as the desire to smoke becomes stronger, headaches, stomach aches, etc. Recent studies have shown that CBD effectively combats addiction. The National Institute on Drug Abuse published a study in 2018 about the impact of CBD on rats used to drinking alcohol and using cocaine.

According to the researchers, cannabinoid use not only significantly reduced withdrawal anxiety and aggression, but also minimised the risk of resuming drug use. With no risk of addiction or side effects, CBD provides an interesting alternative to help quit smoking, especially e-liquids.