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CBD for addiction and substance use

Early trials of high-dose CBD show some effect on cannabis use and heroin craving, no benefit for cocaine, and too little data for alcohol or smoking.

Facts checked 13 November 20266 min readHow we research
Limited evidence

Small, short trials at 400 to 800 mg a day found some effect on cannabis use and heroin craving. A trial at 800 mg a day found no benefit for cocaine, and alcohol and tobacco data are too thin to judge.

How we grade evidence

The evidence for CBD in addiction depends on the substance. Small early trials of high-dose CBD found some effect on cannabis use and on heroin craving. A trial in cocaine use disorder found no benefit, and the data for alcohol and tobacco are too thin to draw a conclusion. No trial shows that CBD helps people stay off any substance in the long term.

What the research shows

Substance Our grade Key human evidence
Cannabis Limited One 4-week trial, 82 people. 400 and 800 mg a day reduced use. 200 mg did not.
Opioids (heroin) Limited One 3-day study, 42 people. Reduced cue-triggered craving.
Alcohol Not enough evidence Three small studies with mixed results.
Tobacco Not enough evidence One 1-week pilot, 24 people.
Cocaine Trials show no benefit One trial, 78 people. No effect on craving or relapse.

Cannabis use disorder

Freeman and colleagues (2020) ran an early-stage trial in 82 people with cannabis use disorder who wanted to quit. They took 200, 400 or 800 mg of CBD a day, or placebo, for four weeks. The 200 mg dose was dropped part-way as ineffective. The 400 mg and 800 mg doses reduced cannabis use, measured by lower levels of a THC breakdown product in urine and more days without cannabis.1

A 2026 review in The Lancet Psychiatry, pooling trials of all cannabinoids (including THC products), also found they reduced cannabis use disorder symptoms.2

Opioids

Hurd and colleagues (2019) gave 400 or 800 mg of CBD, or placebo, once a day for three days to 42 people with heroin use disorder who were not currently using. CBD reduced the craving and anxiety set off by drug-related cues, and the effect lasted up to a week.3 This was a laboratory test of craving. It did not measure whether people returned to using. The 2026 Lancet Psychiatry review found no significant effect of cannabinoids in opioid use disorder.2

Alcohol

  • A study of 28 people found a single 800 mg dose reduced cue-triggered craving and activity in the brain’s reward system.4
  • A pilot in 44 people tested 150 mg a day of hemp-derived CBD. The full-spectrum version, which contains trace THC, showed a larger drop in craving than the broad-spectrum version or placebo. The sample was small.5
  • A trial of 600 mg in 36 young people found no significant effects on brain measures, behaviour or drinking.6

Tobacco

In a 2013 pilot, 24 smokers were given a CBD or placebo inhaler to use for a week whenever they felt the urge to smoke. The placebo group did not change. The CBD group smoked about 40% fewer cigarettes. The authors described the findings as preliminary.7

Cocaine

Mongeau-Pérusse and colleagues (2021) tested 800 mg of CBD a day against placebo in 78 people with cocaine use disorder. CBD did not reduce craving or relapse.8 The 2026 Lancet Psychiatry review reported that cannabinoids increased cocaine craving in people with cocaine use disorder.2

What doses were tested

The trials that reported an effect used 400 to 800 mg a day. In the cannabis trial, 200 mg a day did not work.1 These amounts are well above the 150 mg a day limit for pharmacist-only (Schedule 3) CBD in Australia.9 The one study at 150 mg a day was a small alcohol pilot.5 See does low-dose CBD work?

The studies were also short, from a single dose to four weeks. Addiction is a long-term condition, and none of these trials tells us what happens over months.

What Australian medical bodies say

  • RANZCP (the psychiatrists’ college) says there is insufficient evidence to support medicinal cannabis as a treatment for mental disorders, and is concerned about overprescribing.10
  • RACGP (the GPs’ college) calls the overall evidence “limited and inconclusive” and says medicinal cannabis should only be considered after standard evidence-based treatments have been tried.11
  • No cannabis medicine is registered in Australia for any substance use disorder. As of November 2026, only two cannabis medicines are registered, for other conditions.12

Risks to know about

  • Alcohol. Alcohol raises CBD blood levels (peak level up 93% in one study), and the two add to each other’s sedating effect.13 See CBD and alcohol.
  • Other sedatives. Opioids, benzodiazepines and sedating antihistamines also add to the drowsiness CBD can cause.13
  • Liver. CBD can raise liver enzymes, a sign of liver stress. In a 4-week study of healthy adults taking roughly 350 to 400 mg a day, 5.6% had significant rises.14 This matters more for anyone whose liver is already affected. See CBD and the liver.
  • Withdrawal from other substances. Stopping alcohol, opioids or benzodiazepines suddenly can be dangerous. That needs medical supervision whatever else you are taking.
  • THC in the product. A full-spectrum or mixed product contains THC. For someone trying to stop cannabis, that matters.

On whether CBD is itself habit-forming, the World Health Organization found no case reports of abuse or dependence relating to pure CBD.15 See is CBD addictive?

If you are considering it

  • Start with your GP or an alcohol and drug service. There are established treatments for dependence, and they should come first.
  • Ask whether the product contains THC, and what dose range the evidence relates to.
  • Tell your prescriber about everything you take, including alcohol and non-prescribed drugs, so interactions can be checked. See CBD drug interactions.
  • For any treatment a prescriber suggests, ask how you will both judge whether it is working and when it should be stopped.

Our guide to talking to your GP about CBD can help you prepare.

Footnotes

  1. Freeman TP et al. Cannabidiol for the treatment of cannabis use disorder: a phase 2a adaptive randomised trial. The Lancet Psychiatry, 2020. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7116091/ ↩ ↩2

  2. Wilson et al. Systematic review and meta-analysis of cannabinoids for mental disorders. The Lancet Psychiatry, 2026. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41856154/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  3. Hurd YL et al. Cannabidiol for cue-induced craving and anxiety in heroin use disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry, 2019 (described in a later review). https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12104536/ ↩

  4. ICONIC trial. Single-dose cannabidiol, cue-induced craving and brain reward activation in alcohol use disorder. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12092268 ↩

  5. Pilot trial of full-spectrum and broad-spectrum hemp-derived CBD in alcohol use disorder. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12066606 ↩ ↩2

  6. Randomised trial of cannabidiol in young people with alcohol use disorder. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12339998 ↩

  7. Morgan CJA et al. Cannabidiol reduces cigarette consumption in tobacco smokers: preliminary findings. Addictive Behaviors, 2013. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23685330/ ↩

  8. Mongeau-Pérusse V et al. Cannabidiol as a treatment for craving and relapse in cocaine use disorder: a randomised placebo-controlled trial, 2021. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33464660/ ↩

  9. Therapeutic Goods Administration. Final decision on the scheduling of low-dose cannabidiol, 2020. https://tga.gov.au/node/284859 ↩

  10. Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists. Updated clinical memorandum: therapeutic use of medicinal cannabis, 2024. https://ranzcp.org/news-analysis/updated-clinical-memorandum-therapeutic-use-of-medicinal-cannabis ↩

  11. Royal Australian College of General Practitioners. Medical cannabis position statement (2019 update). https://www.racgp.org.au/advocacy/position-statements/view-all-position-statements/clinical-and-practice-management/medical-cannabis ↩

  12. NPS MedicineWise. Medicinal cannabis: what you need to know. https://www.nps.org.au/professionals/medicinal-cannabis-what-you-need-to-know ↩

  13. Epidiolex (cannabidiol) US prescribing information, DailyMed, revised 2026. https://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/drugInfo.cfm?setid=8bf27097-4870-43fb-94f0-f3d0871d1eec ↩ ↩2

  14. News release on Florian J et al., JAMA Internal Medicine, 2025: liver enzyme elevations in healthy adults taking cannabidiol (secondary report). https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1089832 ↩

  15. World Health Organization Expert Committee on Drug Dependence. Cannabidiol (CBD) critical review report, 2018. https://cdn.who.int/media/docs/default-source/controlled-substances/whocbdreportmay2018-2.pdf ↩

Common questions

Can CBD help me quit cannabis?

One early trial found an effect at high doses. In 82 people with cannabis use disorder, 400 mg and 800 mg of CBD a day for four weeks reduced cannabis use compared with placebo, while 200 mg did not. It was a small, short, early-stage trial, so the result needs confirming.

Can CBD help me come off opioids, benzodiazepines or alcohol?

There is no trial showing CBD helps people stop any of these. One short study in 42 people who had already stopped heroin found CBD reduced craving triggered by drug cues. Alcohol studies are small and mixed. Stopping alcohol, opioids or benzodiazepines can be dangerous without medical support, so talk to a doctor first.

Does CBD help you quit smoking?

The evidence is one pilot study from 2013. Twenty-four smokers used a CBD or placebo inhaler for a week, and the CBD group smoked about 40 percent fewer cigarettes. The authors called the findings preliminary, and it has not been confirmed in a larger trial.

Is CBD itself addictive?

The World Health Organization reviewed CBD in 2018 and found no case reports of abuse or dependence relating to pure CBD. In a human study, large single doses did not produce the drug-liking effects seen with THC or a sedative.

This page is general information, not medical or legal advice. Laws and evidence change; we show the date we last checked the facts at the top of every page. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist before starting, stopping or changing any medicine.

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