A new study on the impacts of medical marijuana on older adults finds that cannabis-based products may provide multiple therapeutic benefits for the demographic, including for health, well-being, sleep and mood. Authors also observed “sizable reductions in pain severity and pain interference among older aged patients [reporting] chronic pain as their primary condition.”
The research, published this week in the journal Drugs and Aging, is meant to address what authors call “a general paucity of high quality research” around cannabis and older adults “and a common methodological practice of excluding those aged over 65 years from clinical trials” at a time when older patients are increasingly turning to medical marijuana for relief.
Patient outcomes were measured by self-reported measures of quality of life, general health, mood and sleep. Results showed “consistent improvements in each of the four well-being measures between entry to treatment and the 3-month follow up.” The levels of improvement on general health, quality of life and sleep, the research says, “were similar for older and younger aged individuals.”
