Is it your imagination or are Grandma and Grandpa more relaxed, healthier and sleeping better than you are? Could it have anything to do with that candy dish full of “special” gummy bears on Senior Bingo Night?
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It could, considering the number of Americans ages 65 and up who smoke marijuana or take edibles has spiked 75% in the last three years, according to Market Watch.
Researchers analyzed the data from just under 15,000 adults in the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, and found that the number of those 65-plus who had smoked or ingested “marijuana, hashish, pot, grass and hash oil” jumped from 2.4% in 2015 to 4.2% in 2018. Compare that to a decade earlier, when less than 0.4% fessed up to hitting the reefer.
The report noted that marijuana use was highest among women and racial and ethnic minorities in particular. There was also a significant increase among college educated, married couples and those who had been treated for mental health issues in the past year. In addition, a surprising number of diabetics reported using marijuana.
Marijuana, or cannabis, has been used for at least 5,000 years as an industrial material and a botanical medicine all over the world.
Medicinal and recreational marijuana is now legal in 11 states for adults over the age of 21 and for medicinal use only in 33 states. In addition, the 2018 Farm Bill legalizes industrial hemp as a crop.
On a federal level, however, the herb is still considered a Schedule 1 controlled substance (other Schedule 1 drugs include heroin, LSD, Ecstasy, methaqualone, bath salts and peyote).
The federal government has yet to realize the health benefits of medical marijuana even though overwhelming research shows marijuana has extraordinary healing powers, due to its cannabidiol (CBD) content.
Cannabinoids interact with your body by way of naturally occurring cannabinoid receptors embedded in cell membranes in your brain, lungs, liver, kidneys, immune system and more. Cannabinoid receptors play an important role in cravings, pain, anxiety, bone growth and immune function to name a few.
Some of the strongest research to date is focused on marijuana for pain relief and better sleep. In one study, just three puffs of marijuana a day for five days helped those with chronic nerve pain to relieve pain and sleep better.
The term “medical marijuana” refers to the use of the whole, unprocessed marijuana plant and its pure extracts to treat a disease or improve a symptom. It must be sourced from a medicinal-grade cannabis plant that has been meticulously grown without the use of toxic pesticides and fertilizers.
Medical marijuana has shown positive effects in treating mood disorders, degenerative neurological disorders, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), seizures and more.
On the other hand, synthetic marijuana has no healing components and puts you at risk of serious side effects, including stroke, brain damage, kidney problems, cardiac issues, acute psychosis, tachycardia and hypokalemia.
As patients and the medical community embrace cannabis and CBD for pain relief, the harm and even deaths from opioids will diminish.
CBD is nonpsychoactive — it’s not addictive, doesn’t produce a "high" and there are few to no dangerous side effects. There seems to be no reason for the FDA’s and DEA’s long-term vilification of CBD except possible collusion with Big Pharma, whose dangerous and lucrative pain treatments, primarily opioids, would suffer from wider CBD use.
Maybe those agency officials should ask their Nanas and Papas what they think of marijuana.