Can CBD Help Smoking Cessation?

Smoking is hard to quit because of the addictive nicotine present in tobacco. Tobacco contains poisonous substances, such as carbon monoxide and tar, that can build up in the blood and lungs and negatively affects one’s health. Moreover, the health risks from smoking are not only limited to the lungs, but many parts of the body, such as the brain, heart, mouth, and bones. Smokers usually turn to vape as an alternative to smoking, especially when they want to quit since it doesn’t contain tobacco. However, most vape juices contain nicotine, which is the addictive substance you want to avoid. Therefore, CBD Vape Oil is the best option because it is non-addictive but still makes you feel calm and relaxed.

How can CBD help people quit smoking?

CBD can help people quit smoking through a variety of ways that include:

  • Eliminating nicotine dependence – Since addiction to smoking is caused by nicotine, eliminating nicotine dependence is the key to quitting. CBD is effective in quitting nicotine, which has been proven by several studies.

A 2013 study by Morgan, Joye, Curran, and Kamboj tested the efficacy of inhaling CBD in smokers wanting to quit. The study was conducted for a week on 24 test subjects divided into two equal groups, a CBD group and a placebo group. Both groups were asked to use their specific CBD or placebo inhalants when they felt the urge to smoke. The results indicated that the CBD group smoked 40% less cigarettes while the placebo group saw no reduction in cigarettes smoked.

  • Reducing the pleasantness to cigarette cues – CBD can also help quit smoking because it has shown to reverse attentional bias to cigarette cues, usually responsible for activating cravings and urgency to smoke. In other words, cigarette cravings are usually triggered or associated with the sight of certain things, such as a morning cup of coffee.

A 2018 study by Hindocha and colleagues tested whether CBD could reverse attentional biases in dependent smokers. Thirty dependent smokers were either given 800 mg oral CBD or a placebo before being shown images of cigarette cues. It was observed that the CBD group displayed a reduced salience and pleasantness to cigarette cues as compared to the placebo group.

  • Similar effects of smoking – Smoking causes relaxation and reduces anxiety, and quitting puts people to mental stress. CBD can help people quit because its therapeutic benefits include reduced anxiety and stress levels and help promote that similar calming sensation when smoking.
  • Various consumption methods – Even though vaping CBD vape oil is probably the best option to start with when looking to quit smoking, there are various other consumption methods to consume CBD if you want to quit smoking in general. Therefore, after getting over nicotine dependence and the urge to smoke, moving on to oral CBD consumption or sublingual CBD consumption can be the healthiest option to get its relaxing and stress relieving benefits.

Conclusion

Based on several studies, CBD has shown some promising results in helping with smoking cessation. Since it is non-addictive, safe to use and has various health benefits that are not limited to stress relief, such as reducing aches and pains and muscle soreness, there is no harm in trying CBD to quit smoking habits.

References

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23685330/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29714034/