For the first time, more Americans use marijuana daily than drink alcohol daily.
So says the Society for the Study of Addiction.
One group that has sharply increased their marijuana use is people over the age of 65. Many use the substance to treat illnesses in place of prescription medications, but have difficulty accessing medical cannabis.
MORE AMERICANS SMOKE MARIJUANA DAILY THAN DRINK ALCOHOL, STUDY SAYS
“There is a very real psychopharmacology associated with cannabis, and I hadn’t learned anything about it in medical school,” said Dr. Zachary Palace, a board-certified geriatrician.
“As I learned more, I realized that this was a drug that could really be used very safely in the geriatric population.”
Many older Americans use marijuana to treat illnesses in place of prescription medications, but they have difficulty accessing medical cannabis. This could change. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Palace is featured in a new video, alongside other doctors, patients and politicians, from the Commonwealth Project. Howard Kessler is the founder of this effort to make medical marijuana more widely available, especially to older adults.
“Every day we let people suffer when we don’t have to,” Kessler said.
Other doctors now specialize in cannabis-based treatments. Dr. Melanie Bone, an obstetrician-gynecologist, says she sees success every day when it comes to treating older adults with marijuana.
Patients say it helps them sleep, makes them less drowsy than other prescription medications — and others have been able to stop taking morphine or opioids.
“The status quo was either not teaching at all or lecturing,” she said. “It’s safe, it’s effective.” His patients say it helps them sleep, makes them less drowsy than other prescription medications, and others have been able to stop taking morphine or opioids.
“For 40 years, I always had pain with something, and now I don’t,” said one of Dr. Bone’s patients.
Since the Nixon administration, cannabis has been legally designated as a Schedule 1 substance by the Drug Enforcement Association.
A worker arranges cannabis flowers before the opening of the first legal recreational marijuana dispensary in the East Village in the Manhattan borough of New York on December 29, 2022. (Reuters/Eduardo Munoz/file photo)
“America’s public enemy number one is drug abuse,” President Richard Nixon declared in 1971, amid a crackdown on drug use.
Other Schedule 1 substances include heroin, LSD and ecstasy.
“Schedule 1 states that this substance has no medical use, and is highly addictive and dangerous,” said Robert Kent, former general counsel for National Drug Control Policy at the White House.
MARIJUANA CONSUMPTION LINKED TO INCREASED RISK OF ASTHMA AMONG YOUNG PEOPLE, STUDY SAYS: “WORRYING” HEALTH IMPLICATIONS
The classification is more restrictive than Schedule 2, which includes cocaine, fentanyl and methamphetamine.
Kent helped develop drug policy for…
