97 percent of elderly patients say medical marijuana helps them feel better!
Medical marijuana has made a phenomenal comeback after being the recreational king in the 60s as an emblem of the hippie culture in recent times. This time, however it is welcomed back in medical capacity as a curing devise for many debilitating diseases like cancer, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson and Crohn’s disease to name a few.
Latest evidence backs the effectiveness of marijuana as a healing herb, especially among the elderly. Latest scientific study has concluded that patients over the age of 65 benefits greatly from marijuana based treatment. According to research paper published in the European Journal of Internal Medicine, the therapeutic use of marijuana has proved to be quite effective in treating elderly population. It also concluded that use of marijuana could eventually lead to reduced use of other prescribed drugs including opioids.
During the study period, 2736 patients above 65 years of age began cannabis treatment and answered the initial questionnaire. The mean age was 74.5 ± 7.5 years. The most common indications for cannabis treatment were pain (66.6%) and cancer (60.8%). After six months of treatment, 93.7% of the respondents reported improvement in their condition and the reported pain level was reduced from a median of 8 on a scale of 0-10 to a median of 4. Most common adverse events were light-headedness (9.7%) and dry mouth (7.1 %). After six months, 18.1% stopped using opioid analgesics or reduced their dose.
According to the scientists, that has conducted this experiment; the elderly who were taking various kinds of prescribed medications, now can reduce their use by inculcating cannabis in their medication. Moreover, according to a daytime talk show, The Doctors, senior citizens’ use of marijuana for medical purposes has phenomenally increased in recent years. They are switching from prescribed drugs to marijuana due to its effectiveness against various diseases that often hit the people in old age like, arthritis, muscular pain, sleeping disorders, depression and Alzheimer’s etc.
Marijuana as a medicine has brought hope for many people suffering from debilitating effects of various diseases as mentioned and its importance as a cure for many incurable ailments has become quite obvious after marijuana’s legalization in more than 29 states across United States. Other countries like Canada have also started to give it a warm welcome.
Marijuana qualifying patients are being provided with medical marijuana cards that entitle them for issuance of medical marijuana that can be in form of liquid, vape or edibles. Smoking of marijuana is still being attached with recreational use and is prohibited in most states even though it is considered more effective than other forms of marijuana intake. Latest developments in this regards do indicate a significant progress towards getting smoking legalized for medical purposes in US. With the passage of time, people are becoming aware of the power of nature and the fact that marijuana has more advantages than disadvantages as compared to prescribed medication that comes with various side effects. With the diversion of people towards more and more natural solutions in various fields other than medication as well, marijuana is going to gain more popularity in people from younger age bracket as well.