Study: CBD reduces the appeal and pleasure of cigarettes

According to a new study in the newspaper Addiction, A simple dose of cannabidiol (CBD) reduces the appeal and pleasure of cigarettes.

Cannabidiol, one of the main non-psychotropic molecules present in cannabis, «may prove to be a promising new treatment for smoking cessation due to its anxiolytic properties, minimal side effects and research indicating that it may modify the appeal of the drug», according to the study.

For the randomized, double-blind study, the researchers used an experimental approach with dependent cigarette smokers to see whether nocturnal nicotine abstinence, compared with satiety, produces greater attentional bias (having one's perceptions influenced by a focus of interest), greater perceived pleasure at cigarette stimuli and increased craving or withdrawal. She also wanted to see whether CBD, Compared with placebo, smoking is said to reduce attention bias, cigarette-related pleasure and side effects.

When participants received the placebo, smoking abstinence increased attention bias away from satiety. However, CBD reversed this effect, so that the attention bias shifted away from cigarettes, to the same extent as a smoker at satiety.

Compared to placebo, CBD also reduced the explicit pleasure induced by images of cigarettes. CBD also induced a sensation of tobacco satiety even during periods of abstinence.

The study finally concludes that 'a single oral dose of 800 mg cannabidiol (CBD) reduced craving and the attractiveness of cigarette-related signals, compared with placebo, after overnight abstinence from cigarettes in dependent smokers. CBD did not influence craving or smoking cessation, and did not induce any subjective side effects.

Other preliminary studies had already looked at the reduction in cigarette consumption after taking CBD, with promising results.