A Crisis of Unmitigated Proportion

Original Publish Date - October 27th 2017

An Epidemic Out of Control

As a person involved intimately with the healthcare field for more than 25 years, I had hoped that the words of the title above would not surface again after the AIDS Crisis of the 1980’s and 90’s. As a healthcare entrepreneur at the time, I developed products that helped stem the transmission of the virus among healthcare and sanitation workers.

But it appears the AIDS Crisis was not the last of unmitigated health crises here in America. Today, we are faced with one that is already exceeding the yearly death toll of the AIDS Crisis at its peak. That, of course, is the Opioid Epidemic. And like that earlier crisis decades ago, I now find myself in an entrepreneurial position to effect, in some small way, its outcome.

The statistics are sobering. There has been a 20% increase in US overdose deaths in the past year, with 63% of them opioid-related; a staggering total of 64,765 deaths…more than the number of Americans who died in the entire Vietnam War. There has been a 100% increase in deaths due to synthetic opioids in 2017 alone, mostly fentanyl related. And unlike the Aids Crisis, this crisis seems to know no gender, class, geographic or orientation bounds. It is simply pervasive and devastating.

But there is hope. There may well be solutions in unexpected areas. And to make matters clear, I am making no claims about our products or its constituents in this journal article. I’ll defer to the researchers to do that. What I am speaking about, of course is CBD or cannabidiol, a non-psychoactive component of Cannabis Sativa, present in both marijuana and hemp, and a primary ingredient of our products.

We now appear to have more scientific evidence from a recent study that CBD could be an effective replacement for opioid treatment, and provide relief from pain. In addition, the study determined that CBD was effective in blocking the “reward” of opioids and thus may be effective in treating opioid addiction by blocking, or attenuating the rewarding effect of the drugs. The study was conducted by University of Mississippi researchers and published in the journal Planta Medica, on August 9th of this year, and reinforces the findings of several previous studies. The scientists concluded that:

“The finding that cannabidiol blocks opioid reward suggests that this compound may be useful in addiction treatment settings.”

And speaking from our own experience, the research is certainly backed by countless references from CBD users claiming success as well.

SO…with a crisis as pervasive and deadly as the Opioid Epidemic, isn’t it inherent on all of us to push any possible solution? If any readers are involved in healthcare initiatives, organizations or other entities capable of influencing the adoption of CBD with respect to this crisis, we’re imploring you to do just that. And let us know how we can help you. Because here at Imbue, our mission is clear. Promote and improve health and wellness in whatever way we can.

with all our best,

Tom