New York, NY: Cannabis use is associated with less severe symptoms in a patient undergoing naloxone-precipitated withdrawal, according to a case report published in the journal Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology.
Researchers affiliated with Columbia University in New York and Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore assessed the effects of vaporized cannabis pre-treatment on naloxone-precipitated opioid withdrawal in a 52-year-old patient. The patient had a history of heroin and fentanyl use. Investigators assessed the patient’s withdrawal symptoms following the use of naloxone, with and without using cannabis.
They reported that vaporized cannabis reduced the severity and onset of opioid withdrawal symptoms in a dose-dependent manner. Specifically, the patient required “three rescue doses of morphine” when naloxone was administered alone, but he needed only “a single rescue dose” when cannabis use preceded naloxone treatment.
“These results support the continued investigation into combined naloxone + cannabinoid formulations as overdose reversal agents for improved tolerability,” the study’s authors concluded.
Their conclusion is consistent with survey data reporting that opioid-dependent subjects frequently acknowledge consuming cannabis to mitigate drug cravings and reduce withdrawal symptoms.
Full text of the study, “The effects of vaporized cannabis on the severity of naloxone-precipitated opioid withdrawal,” appears in Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology. Additional information is available from the NORML Fact Sheet, ‘Relationship Between Marijuana and Opioids.’