Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2025 May;30(5):e70047.
doi: 10.1111/adb.70047.

The Potential Use of Cannabidiol in the Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder: A Systematic Review

Mahan Shafie  1 , Kevin Ing  2   3 , Yasna Rostam-Abadi  4 , Jeremy Weleff  4   5   6 , Mackenzie Griffin  4 , Mohini Ranganathan  4   7 , Ardavan Mohammad Aghaei  4 , Nicholas Pratt  4 , Melissa C Funaro  8 , Anahita Bassir Nia  4   7   9
Affiliations
Review

The Potential Use of Cannabidiol in the Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder: A Systematic Review

Mahan Shafie et al. Addict Biol. 2025 May.

Abstract

Cannabidiol (CBD) has emerged as a potential treatment option for various psychiatric disorders, including substance use disorders. This systematic review is aimed at reviewing the evidence regarding the safety and efficacy of CBD as a therapeutic option in opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment in clinical and preclinical studies. We searched MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, Scopus, Web of Science, CDSR and CENTRAL up to December 2023. We included original peer-reviewed human and animal studies evaluating CBD for OUD outcomes and excluded those that did not report OUD outcomes or used CBD solely with THC. The risk of bias was assessed with the Cochrane risk-of-bias tool for human studies and SYRCLE's tool for animal studies. Due to outcome heterogeneity, findings were presented using a qualitative synthesis. Four clinical studies (74 participants) and 16 preclinical studies met the inclusion criteria. The collective evidence from clinical and preclinical studies indicates that CBD holds promise as an adjunctive therapy for OUD with a well-tolerated profile during opioid use and withdrawal. Human clinical studies demonstrated a reduction in craving and alleviation of abstinence-induced anxiety. In preclinical studies, CBD has been shown to reduce withdrawal symptoms and diminish opioid-rewarding effects using the conditioned place preference paradigm, although the results are mixed, and not all preclinical studies reported these effects. The quality assessment for clinical studies indicated an overall evaluation of 'some concerns', while a notable level of 'unclear' risk was observed across the evaluated domains for preclinical studies. This systematic review highlights the potential of CBD as a beneficial treatment option for addressing cravings and anxiety symptoms during abstinence in individuals with OUD, based on findings from human studies. Continued research and clinical trials will be essential for further improving outcomes in OUD treatment using novel effective treatment approaches. Study limitations include the limited number of clinical studies, small sample size, short-term follow-up, lack of combination therapy and heterogeneity across preclinical studies. TRIAL REGISTRATION: PROSPERO identifier: CRD42023401446.

Keywords: addiction; cannabidiol; opioid; opioid use disorder; tetrahydrocannabinol; withdrawal.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Dr. Bassir Nia is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of Synendos Therapeutics AG, Switzerland. The other authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
PRISMA flow diagram.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Risk of bias assessments for clinical studies using the revised Cochrane risk‐of‐bias tool for randomized trials (RoB 2). Suzuki et al.'s (2022) study was a single‐arm open‐label pilot study.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Summary of risk of bias assessments for clinical studies.
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
Risk of bias assessments for animal studies using the SYRCLE's risk of bias tool. Carey et al.'s (2023) study examined the effects of THC and CBD in four rhesus monkeys and was not a trial.
FIGURE 5
FIGURE 5
Summary of risk of bias assessments for animal studies.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Shen J., Hua G., Li C., Liu S., Liu L., and Jiao J., “Prevalence, Incidence, Deaths, and Disability‐Adjusted Life‐Years of Drug Use Disorders for 204 Countries and Territories During the Past 30 Years,” Asian Journal of Psychiatry 86 (2023): 103677. - PubMed
    1. Florence C., Luo F., and Rice K., “The Economic Burden of Opioid Use Disorder and Fatal Opioid Overdose in the United States, 2017,” Drug and Alcohol Dependence 218 (2021): 108350. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Carroll J. J., Green T. C., and Noonan R. K., Evidence‐Based Strategies for Preventing Opioid Overdose: What's Working in the United States: An Introduction for Public Heath, Law Enforcement, Local Organizations, and Others Striving to Serve Their Community, (2018).
    1. Mariolis T., Bosse J., Martin S., Wilson A., and Chiodo L., “A Systematic Review of the Effectiveness of Buprenorphine for Opioid Use Disorder Compared to Other Treatments: Implications for Research and Practice,” Journal of Addiction Research & Therapy 10, no. 2 (2019): 1000379.
    1. Dowell D., “Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder: Population Estimates—United States, 2022,” MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 73, no. 25 (2024): 567–574, 10.15585/mmwr.mm7325a1. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources