More and More Seniors Turning to Marijuana Products

Health Wellness

Over the past few years, there has been a lot of debate, political, medical and ethical, over legalizing the use of marijuana and marijuana products for both medical and recreational use.

Years ago, the same debates took place on the use of opium for medicinal use, only it wasn’t as much of a public debate as that of today with marijuana.

A century ago, and longer, it wasn’t uncommon for doctors to prescribe or provide a compound known as laudanum. It was given for many reasons, mostly for pain from conditions like cancer and gun shot wounds. Laudanum is a tincture of opium. When it was made it used about 10% of powdered opium by weight, which in today’s medical standards equals about 1% morphine. Laudanum contains all of the opium alkaloids including morphine and codeine, compounds used today for pain. They are also the source of blame for many of the opioid addictions and overdoses that are plaguing the United States.

Eventually, the wide use of laudanum was greatly reduced as opium and opium products were made illegal and tightly controlled for legal medical purposes only.

Basically, this is the same issue facing America today, only, due to the push by liberals, it has become a major public issue, one with good arguments on both sides.

Yes, there are some people who find that certain marijuana products do help their medical conditions and then there are reports and studies that show the harmful effects of marijuana use such as increased auto accidents, increased emergency room visits and more recent reports on the harmful impact on the brains of teens.

So much of the media focus has been on using marijuana to help control childhood epilepsy and other conditions largely affecting children on up to middle age, but for some reason, the media seems to ignore seniors who are turning to marijuana for help with their medical conditions.

For instance, there is the case of 90-year-old Shirley Avedon, who resides at the Laguna Woods Village retirement community in Orange County, California. She has been suffering from chronic carpal tunnel syndrome and has an aversion to using steroids or surgery to help with her condition, but twice in the past two months, she boarded a bus that takes seniors to a marijuana dispensary.

Avedon is a retired oncology office manager and recalls seeing how certain marijuana products helps many of the cancer patients, even before it was legal.

On her first visit, she purchased a pain-relieving cream made with cannabidiol (CBD) but without the psychoactive ingredient (THC) that makes people high. After using the cannabidiol based cream on her hands and wrists, Avedon was sold and returned to get more.

Avedon is one of a growing number of seniors who are turning to various marijuana products, most of which do not have THC, to help them cope or live with their chronic conditions. Many are reporting that it helps them lead a more productive and active lifestyle that they otherwise could not.

I’ve never been a supporter of legalizing marijuana or the widespread use, even for medicinal  purposes, but as I get older and understand more of how it has helped so many improve their lives, I have to admit that I’m beginning to change my mind.

Will I try any marijuana products to help with my chronic intense pain? Probably not for two reasons – one, I can’t afford it and two, I have a genetic immunity to  most pain killers and in my youth, I tried some high-quality marijuana and it had ZERO effect on me.

However, I do understand why so many older folks are turning to marijuana products.

marijuana Seniors

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