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[MUSIC PLAYING]

YASMIN HURD: A huge part of my research is understanding the human brain in regard to heroin addiction. Many people, unfortunately, die from heroin overdose. I study the brains of such individuals. We keep the brains frozen so that we can conduct molecular studies to really get a true insight into the brains of heroin abusers so we can develop new innovative strategies to reverse it.

We saw that CBD actually reduced heroin seeking behaviors. People on the streets think that cannabidiol is marijuana. It is not. CBD is not intoxicating. It is not addictive. So we can provide the world with an opportunity of a medication that actually exists already.

Heroin changes parts of the neural circuits that are important for reward and craving. Cannabidiol actually normalizes a lot of those neural circuits that we see impaired with heroin.

Video

CBD for Treating Opioid Addiction

Dr. Hurd’s study, published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, found that cannabidiol (CBD), a non-intoxicating and non-addictive product of the hemp plant, can reduce craving and anxiety in people with heroin use disorder. These emotions continued to be reduced seven days after exposure, suggesting that the effects of CBD continue after the CBD is no longer present in the body. There were no significant effects on cognition, and no other serious adverse events. Dr. Hurd’s research team is working on two follow-up studies: one on the mechanisms of CBD’s effects on the brain, and the second to pave the way for the development of unique CBD medicinal formulations likely to become a part of the medical arsenal available to address the opioid epidemic. 

If you find our research and clinical experience valuable for the field and our patients, please consider voting for The Mount Sinai Hospital via Doximity for the U.S. News and World Report “Best Hospital: Psychiatry” rankings in March. Your vote helps make it possible for us to continue to uncover and explore paths to prevention and treatment of psychiatric disorders. 

Related Presenters

Yasmin Hurd, PhD.

Yasmin Hurd, PhD

Ward-Coleman Chair of Translational Neuroscience
Director of the Addiction Institute at Mount Sinai
Mount Sinai Health System

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