Can CBD Help People Quit Smoking? The Surprising Research

Most “stop smoking aids” contain nicotine. The reason is obvious; nicotine gum, nicotine vapes, and nicotine patches all deliver the addictive chemical compound that makes it so difficult for people to quit smoking — while not containing most or all of the other hazardous substances that make smoking so hazardous to health.

Methods like hypnosis, acupuncture, and quitting “cold turkey” don’t require smokers to continue receiving their regular doses of nicotine, but sadly, they don’t work all that well. Abrupt smoking cessation has only a 4-7% success rate, and while hypnosis and acupuncture often provide effective short-term results, 50% or more of subjects return to the habit over the long term.

Surprisingly, CBD products may help where those other approaches can’t.

Research results are still far from conclusive, but there’s encouraging evidence that CBD (cannabidiol) appears to work in several different ways to encourage smoking cessation.

1. Studies have shown promise for the use of CBD to combat anxiety and stress, and the use of cannabidiol may help smokers ease the stress caused by nicotine withdrawal.
2. CBD interacts with a key bodily system (the endocannabinoid system, or ECS) that may be instrumental in creating cravings for nicotine. Early results imply that cannabidiol’s interactions with the ECS might be able to interfere with smokers’ desires to keep smoking.
3. Separate research indicates that a large dose of CBD may lower the importance and pleasantness of stimuli the researchers called visual “cigarette cues.”
4. Cannabidiol administered via inhaler may satisfy smokers’ urge to physically inhale tobacco smoke.

None of this evidence is enough for experts to determine that CBD can help people quit smoking, but it’s all encouraging. And when coupled with other studies showing that cannabidiol use may help patients with substance abuse disorders break their addictions to heroin and other drugs, the need for further research seems obvious and potentially fruitful.

For those who want to know more, here’s a deeper dive into the subject.

What Does CBD Do in the Body?

Cannabidiol is one of 100+ compounds called cannabinoids found in cannabis and hemp plants. The CBD products that are ubiquitous today contain cannabidiol sourced from hemp, which is high in CBD and low in the other major cannabinoid, psychoactive THC. (The ratio is reversed in cannabis, which is why weed makes you high and hemp-sourced CBD does not.)

Let’s briefly shift gears. The body’s endocannabinoid system controls a large number of important bodily functions ranging from brain processing and sleep to inflammation and immunity. The ECS’s two components are receptors that send and receive messages, and neurotransmitters called endocannabinoids, which carry those messages.

Once they’re in the body, cannabinoids like CBD and THC are able to interact with ECS receptors, because their chemical structures are almost identical to those of the endocannabinoids. That allows CBD and THC to affect almost all of the functions that the ECS regulates.

THC makes a beeline for what are known as “CB1” receptors located in the brain and spine. CB1 receptors govern thinking, memory, appetite, and sleep, among other functions; when THC binds to them, it’s able to deliver its trademark effects and make users high.

CBD, however, mostly interacts with “CB2” receptors throughout other areas of the body. CB2 receptors are in charge of activities like immunity and inflammation, not brain operations, so cannabidiol doesn’t deliver intoxicating effects as it works in the body.

Both cannabinoids apparently provide health and wellness benefits through their interactions with the ECS, but the specifics aren’t fully understood. And when it comes to CBD, evidence of its apparent benefits is so preliminary that cannabidiol hasn’t yet been approved for any medical use, in any country, except to treat a few rare types of childhood epilepsy.

The findings to date, however, have already sparked huge interest in CBD products since they’ve been available for purchase as what are classified as “Novel Foods.”

Apparent Benefits of CBD

Every year, it seems, at least one new potential benefit of CBD use is published in reputable scientific journals. Here’s a look at just some of them.

• Mental Health Conditions: Cannabidiol appears to ease depression, anxiety, and stress, as well as several more serious disorders including schizophrenia.
• Pain: Evidence shows that CBD may calm chronic pain caused by inflammatory and anti-immune conditions (which is not surprising, given cannabidiol’s interaction with CB2 receptors). Those conditions include arthritis, gout, inflammatory bowel disease, asthma, and fibromyalgia. There are indications it may be effective against other types of chronic pain, too.
• Neurodegenerative Diseases: There are promising signs that cannabidiol may be able to slow the progression of serious neurological conditions like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, and may even provide neuroprotective effects.
• Cardiovascular Risk Factors: It appears that CBD may help lower high blood pressure and high cholesterol, among other heart health risk factors, and may provide other cardiovascular protective effects.
• Sleep Difficulties: Cannabidiol appears to help patients fight insomnia and other sleep quality issues.
• Epilepsy: In addition to CBD’s approved use to help childhood epilepsy sufferers, it may also help other patients dealing with other forms of seizure disorders.
• Skin Diseases: Cannabidiol is believed to help reduce the production of oily sebum that triggers acne and similar conditions.
• Cancer: Evidence is preliminary, but there are signs that CBD may help in the fight against some types of cancer.

And you can add “possible help for those trying to quit smoking” to that list of CBD’s apparent benefits.

What We Know About CBD and Smoking Cessation

Research into the benefits of CBD use is still in its early stages, so no medical or health and wellness benefits have been proven to the satisfaction of regulatory agencies (except for the childhood epilepsy cases we’ve mentioned).

There have only been a few studies on the possible use of cannabidiol to help people quit smoking, and they’re even less conclusive, but initial indications are encouraging.

Anxiety and Stress

Anyone who’s ever tried to give up smoking will tell you how stressful the experience can be. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reports that anxiety, temporary depression, and irritability are among the major reasons people give up on their attempts to quit.

Studies on CBD’s effects on those mental health issues have been more robust than more specific smoking-related research has been. Dating back decades, they’ve repeatedly shown that the use of CBD appears to be effective at easing all types of stress and anxiety without the problematic side effects that traditional treatment with prescription medications can cause.

This evidence doesn’t directly connect to smokers’ cravings for cigarettes or nicotine, but it implies that CBD could be a powerful addition to any “stop smoking” regime.

“Cigarette Cues”

A 2018 study looked at how visual “cues” affected the desire for cigarettes in those who were trying to quit, comparing the reactions of subjects given CBD with those given placebos.

The research found that former smokers given an 800mg dose of cannabidiol found smoking imagery less pleasant and less important than those who’d received placebos. The CBD didn’t affect their physical cravings for tobacco but appeared to lessen their mental desire to smoke.

Just as with the apparent stress-relieving effects of CBD, there’s no evidence in this study that cannabidiol lessens smokers’ addiction to nicotine — but it is another indication that using CBD may help their efforts to quit.

The ECS and Smoking

Animal researchers have tried to understand how the endocannabinoid system, and CBD’s interaction with it, may impact nicotine cravings in smokers trying to kick the habit.

They reported several very interesting findings:

• Nicotine increases the number of cPLA2 enzymes released in the body.
• The increased presence of cPLA2 enzymes activates endocannabinoid system receptors.
• Preventing the activation of those ECS receptors substantially reduces nicotine cravings.
• The introduction of CBD may inhibit the activity of those receptors.

This is all very preliminary evidence. However, researchers say it may have major implications for cannabidiol’s potential use to help smokers deal with nicotine withdrawal.

Other Indications

Medical professionals advising smokers on the best ways to quit often recommend substituting actions like sucking on pens to simulate the habitual activities connected with smoking. One study reported that patients using CBD via an inhaler had less of a desire to hold and inhale cigarettes.

A different set of preliminary studies, investigating cannabidiol’s potential to help patients with substance use disorders, has returned somewhat conflicting results.

Animal research has shown that one group of cocaine-addicted rats showed no difference in behaviors after being administered CBD, but in another study, seven days of CBD use provided the animals with long-lasting relief from cocaine cravings.

More intriguing results involved human patients dealing with heroin addiction. They experienced fewer cravings after using 400mg or 800mg of CBD, with the ameliorative effect lasting longer than a week in some cases.

Conclusion

There’s far from enough evidence to conclude that CBD can help people quit smoking. Preliminary research into the many factors that contribute to nicotine addiction and withdrawal, though, shows that it’s a promising approach to smoking cessation.

However, since there’s no potential for addiction to cannabidiol and the cannabinoid triggers no serious side effects, it might be worth consideration by those having difficulty kicking the habit. The best advice, as with the use of any drug or substance, is to first consult your doctor or another health professional for advice on whether CBD use is appropriate for you.

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