"Weed 4- Pot vs. Pills" - Dr. Sanjay Gupta
Poppy is a beautiful flower that looks harmless enough, but the opioids derived from this plant can turn people into addicts. “They start seeking them out at the cost of everything else, even their death,” said Yasmin Hurd, PhD, director of the Center for Addictive Disorders at the Mount Sinai Health System. Dr. Hurd said that’s because these pain pills make profound changes in the brain soon after you start using them. Dr. Hurd collects hundreds of brains from opioid addicts who have overdosed. “One of the things you can see is that there is not that many networks, opioids damage the receptors,” said Dr. Hurd. “The craving is so prominent and enormous that they can’t stop themselves,” she added. Dr. Hurd started to focus on the CBD in cannabis, to not only treat the underlying pain, but to also heal the brain. And it’s not just the pain that cannabis could help, but also the withdrawal symptoms of getting off opioids.
-Yasmin Hurd, PhD, Professor, Psychiatry, Neuroscience, Pharmacology, Systems Therapeutics, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Chair, Ward-Coleman Translational Neuroscience, Director of the Center for Addictive Disorders, Mount Sinai Health System
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