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Medical Cannabis Improves Seniors Quality Of Life
The aging process for humans can really be a sad thing. As time goes by, quality of life diminishes and the human body starts to break down as conditions develop. Unfortunately, it’s a reality that cannot be overcome.
Getting older can be a tough thing to navigate for many people. The aches and pains are a constant reminder that Father Time is undefeated. Getting adequate sleep is particularly tough for many senior citizens for a multitude of reasons, not the least of which is side effects from pharmaceutical prescriptions.
Anyone who has looked at a seniors’ medicine cabinet will be quick to point out that the number of prescriptions adds up with age. It’s a slippery slope — seniors get prescribed one pharmaceutical medicine to treat a condition, and the side effects from that prescription then require their own prescription.
The situation can get out of hand very quickly, and given how addictive and harmful some pharmaceutical drugs can be, it can also be a dangerous situation.
The same cannot be said about cannabis. A recent study explored seniors, cannabis, and reported quality of life, and the results are raising a lot of eyebrows.
Improved Quality of Life
A team of researchers recently conducted a study in which they surveyed senior citizens (over 60 years old) and asked them questions about quality of life.
Some of the seniors that participated in the study reported using cannabis for medical purposes while others did not. “[We] identified a strong positive association between higher frequency of cannabis use and improvement to HRQL and HCU [health-care utilization] scores. …
Our regression modeling also identified a strong positive relationship between higher frequency of cannabis use and self-reported improvements to pain symptoms. The positive relationship between near-daily use and improved reports offers further evidence of the perceived value of medical cannabis as a therapeutic approach for pain management,” the researchers stated.
The results of the research are in line with previous studies, as pointed out by one of the leading cannabis advocacy groups, NORML.
“These results are hardly surprising. Many seniors likely experimented first-hand with cannabis during their youth and are now returning to it as a potential therapy to mitigate many of the health-related symptoms that come with older age, including chronic pain. Many seniors are well aware of the litany of serious adverse side-effects associated with available prescription drugs, like opioids, and they perceive medical cannabis to be a viable alternative,”
stated NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano in a press release.
The Safer Choice
Senior citizens are obviously welcome to pursue whatever medication strategy that they are most comfortable with. Patients should always seek the advice of medical professionals, including and especially their primary physician. With that being said, at least according to the results of the previously cited study, seniors would benefit from at the very least talking about medical cannabis with their doctor.
If the doctor is not knowledgeable about the benefits and risks of medical cannabis, which is unfortunately fairly common, patients should offer up the results of the previously cited study and other information published by Cannabis & Tech Today to get the conversation started. Cannabis is not only safer than most pharmaceutical drugs, it’s also safer than many substances that are common in households around the globe.
Medical cannabis may not help every suffering patient in every situation, however, it’s a safe enough substance that there’s not a lot to lose if a patient wants to try medical cannabis (responsibly, and with a doctor’s approval, of course).
