Inflammation and oxidative stress are intimately involved in the genesis of many human diseases. Unraveling that relationship therapeutically has proven challenging, in part because inflammation and oxidative stress “feed off” each other. However, CBD would seem to be a promising starting point for further drug development given its anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory action on immune cells, such as macrophages and microglia. CBD also has the advantage of not having psychotropic side effects. Studies on models of human diseases support the idea that CBD attenuates inflammation far beyond its antioxidant properties, for example, by targeting inflammation-related intracellular signaling events. The details on how CBD targets inflammatory signaling remain to be defined. The therapeutic utility of CBD is a relatively new area of investigation that portends new discoveries on the interplay between inflammation and oxidative stress, a relationship that underlies tissue and organ damage in many human diseases.

Work examining CBD, a non-intoxicating cannabinoid with a low addiction profile, has demonstrated differential effects based on dose. Specifically, low doses of CBD have been shown to be stimulating and has been investigated within the context of a number of sleep disorders including insomnia. Here, initial basic research has suggested that medium-/high-dose CBD is associated with an increase in the percentage of total sleep. This is supported by a pilot study in humans showing that high-dose CBD was associated with improved sleep.

CBD shows some promise in alleviating negative withdrawal effects and reducing motivation to self-administer or reinstatement of drug use in animals. However, evidence on its efficacy is limited and mixed. CBD alone may not be sufficiently effective in maintaining long-term abstinence without ongoing support and behavioral therapy, as evidenced by its lack of efficacy over treatments, such as cognitive behavioral therapy and motivational enhancement therapy. A combination of pharmacotherapy and behavioral therapy may increase treatment potency and adherence, and CBD may be better suited as an adjunct treatment to primary behavioral or psychosocial therapy.

The results of this study suggest that using CBD-rich hemp extract oil may help reduce opioid use and improve quality of life, specifically in regards to pain and sleep, among chronic pain patients. This is consistent with emerging literature on the topic, which has concluded that CBD is an effective analgesic, and one that helps reduce barriers to opioid reduction, such as physiological withdrawal symptoms. This study concludes that using CBD for chronic pain in patients using opioids has a significant effect on reducing opioid intake, reducing pain and improving quality of life. Over half of the participants who added CBD hemp extract reduced or eliminated opioids over the course of 8 weeks, and almost all CBD users reported improvements in quality of life.

This study demonstrated that acute administration of CBD, one of the main psychoactive constituents of Cannabis sativa, can reduce subjective anxiety in patients clinically diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, in this case SAD (seasonal affective disorder). Furthermore, the present study indicates that this behavioral response is associated with changes in the functional activity of brain areas implicated in the processing of anxiety.