“For two or three years now I haven’t touched a THC joint thanks to CBD”, tells 20 minutes Frederic, 42 years old. Like him, many of Marie-Jeanne’s smokers, who consumed for years, even decades, managed to do without the psychotropic effects of THC when CBD appeared on the market. Cannabis remains the drug most consumed by the French and the French are those who consume the most in Europe, according to the French Observatory of Drugs and Addictive Tendencies. And CBD is very similar to it: it comes from the same plant, the same cannabis flower, it looks the same, almost the same smell, the same taste, but does not have the THC concentration of the herb sold. illegally by traffickers.
On December 29, the ban on the sale of hemp flower and leaf loaded with cannabidiol (CBD), the non-psychotropic molecule of cannabis, was even lifted by the Council of State, which confers on it “properties relaxants and anticonvulsant effects, but does not have a psychotropic effect and does not cause dependence”, citing the available scientific data.
CBD, the joint’s nicotine patch?
In addition to relaxing, could CBD serve as a substitute for cannabis smokers? Several readers have already experienced this, like Guillaume, 36: “A joint smoker since the age of 16, my consumption had drastically increased with age (four to five a day), I was able to reduce replacing some joints with CBD and gradually getting rid of the THC”.
If some believe that it is not effective, that it is a “phony”, that we cannot replace THC with CBD because that would be equivalent to making an alcoholic stop drinking with non-alcoholic beer, like Vincent, 33, others have in any case found in CBD a way out of their addiction. Jean, 35, “stopped cannabis 52 days ago” and believes that the CBD that now replaces his joints “helps him a lot”. A regular smoker since he was 20, he had been smoking “ten joints a day since Covid-19” but at Christmas he promised his son to stop and embarked on the ordeal.
“I was able to wean myself off cannabis without any cravings,” says Corentin, 40, in turn. “I smoked a joint once in the evening and didn’t like the effects, I wasn’t well. It’s over, more for me this shit, ”he slices.
A lack of scientific studies
Can we then speak of a substitute product as some consumers seem to think? Not yet, warns Stéphanie Ladel, addictologist and prevention specialist contacted by 20 minutes. “These people have my congratulations for achieving their goals, and they arouse my curiosity, but for the moment the scientific studies, in particular the follow-ups of the journey, with the use of CBD alone are insufficient to allow us to conclude that we we can recommend consuming CBD as an aid to quitting cannabis use”, nuances the addictologist.
There are not enough scientific studies, hindsight on this substance, but “what matters is also that it works on some people,” adds Stéphanie Ladel. And maybe with this legalization of the CBD flower, more scientists will look into the matter.
A new life
However, these witnesses, and many other people, have found refuge in CBD and have eliminated THC from their daily lives. And for some, that means a new life, clearer, less prone to guilt too. Thus, since he started using CBD, Jean feels better at work, with his friends and even if “the end of the day is complicated”, he “holds on” despite “a very complicated week of weaning”. . “I painfully realized that I no longer knew how to manage my emotions without cannabis, especially stress, but I am learning again little by little and have no regrets. “He says he is” proud “of him today for having subscribed to his addiction to cannabis. “I feel better even if I think I’m stupid for having waited so long,” adds the young father.
The fact of being able to have it easily without having the impression of being a delinquent, of not needing to change my habits, that clearly changed my life, abounds Frédéric. I feel like I found myself. »
“When I smoked cannabis I had less desire to do things, I realize that today,” says Corentin. The addictologist Stéphanie Ladel then notes that “the advantages are there”, in particular “from a point of view of legality, of the mode of power of attorney, of the absence of” stoned effect”, of the little change of habits , and the gaze of others and of oneself. “And of course these are not negligible points,” she adds.
Smoking kills
But for Guillaume, there remains the problem of society’s view of CBD, which is still too closely associated with its illicit cousin. “The only problems remain the general public’s view of this product, which some consider to be just as dangerous and the fact that saliva tests would come out positive, he also regrets. In fact it would be as if a blood alcohol test was positive with a non-alcoholic beer, too bad. »
Nevertheless, the CBD flower sold in tobacconists or in specialized shops if it is smoked, consumed in the manner of a joint of grass, remains dangerous for health. “As health professionals, we can only encourage everyone to avoid inhaling smoke, of any product whatsoever”, warns Stéphanie Ladel.