Hi there!
Tapering off of opiates is never pleasant, potentially dangerous, and should always be performed under the close supervision of a physician. Symptoms during withdrawal may include: muscle aches, restlessness, anxiety, runny nose, sweating, insomnia, abdominal cramping, diarrhea, nausea and vomiting. Cannabis should help alleviate pain, anxiety, insomnia, restlessness and nausea; these issues are best treated with a decent amount of THC. Accordingly, I would likely discourage, unless the patient were averse to THC, using a very high CBD vs low THC product, nor would I recommend very high CBD strains in this situation. Here are products and strains for you to consider:
- https://www.cbd.org/products/chocolates/1-1-chocolate – a "whole plant" 2:1 edible
- https://dosist.com/pen-relief/ – a 1:2 vaporizer pen
- https://kivaconfections.com/products/bars/ginger – a 1:1 "whole plant" edible
Some CBD strains to consider:
Sweet and Sour Widow – a 1:1 indica strain
Pennywise – a 1:1 indica strain
Cannatonic – a 3:1 hybrid strain
Some "standard" strains to consider (indica or indica dominant hybrids):
Grand Daddy Purp
Northern Lights
God’s Gift
Chocolate Chunk
Hope this helps!
drkim
Hello,
To deal with opioid dependence and withdrawal symptoms can be very difficult; and "cannabis can be safer than other harm reduction options like methadone and Suboxone" (Sulak, 2018). It does not have the risk of a fatal overdose and has a lower risk of dependence and problematic use than other psychoactive substances.
I would recommend patients who use cannabis to help with their opioid addiction and withdrawal symptoms to start with a liquid cannabis preparation (tincture or oil) that can be administered under the tongue. The method allows for intermediate onset of benefits and easy dosage adjustments by precise dose while using drops or an oral syringe.
The oral liquid preparation of cannabis should be taken 3 to 4 times daily or with every administration of an opioid drug.
The content of CBD and THC is important. "For most of patients, a CBD:THC ratio of approximately 1:1 is broadly effective and well tolerated" (Sulak, 2018). Those who are sensitive to THC can reduce potential unwanted effects by using a CBD:THC ratio of 4:1 or higher.
Every two-three days, the dose choosen preparation can be slowly increased by 1 to 2 mg for THC and CBD correspondingly. Most patients achieve good results up to 15 mg of THC per dose.
Hopefully the information helped.
For more information you can read https://healer.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Healer-Medical-Cannabis-Opioid-Guide.pdf
Sulak, D. (2018). Medical Cannabis Opioid Guide.
krabell14
