Recent studies seem to indicate that our older citizens will be electing to try medical marijuana more and more. Between the years of 2013-2016 the usage rates of folks ages 50-64 were up by several percentage points. It’s not clear precisely why, but this could have to do with; increased social acceptance, less cost for marijuana as compared with prescription drugs, good effectiveness with less side effects, high safety profile of cannabinoids, and promising treatments for Alzheimer’s and other maladies specific to our senior citizens. Besides, why not try it?
Whatever the reason, it seems clear that not only are more seniors using cannabis for treatments, but that they are also staying active in the workforce longer. The increase of time spent in the work force, and the time spent working each month, continues to climb for seniors in medical marijuana states. While we’re not seeing huge upswings, the finding are still statistically significant. I’ll be clear too that the link between medical cannabis and these figures aren’t iron clad, but they do seem to be consistently applicable to states with approved medical cannabis programs.
This news makes sense given that the endocannabinoid system (ECS) in the human body is central to maintaining homeostasis in a wide range of bodily functions. As we age many systems, including the ECS, can lose their ability to function properly. Maintaining your ECS by adding phytocannibinoids (plant cannabinoids like THCTHC is the most famous cannabinoid and is psychoactive. TH... and CBDCBD is a cannabinoid with high medical value. It lessens t... More) can act to up regulate, or down regulate the ECS as needed. Even microdoses of cannabinoids can be an effective therapy to generally maintain ECS tone. However, this is all probably best left for an article of it’s own.
Further reading:
EurekaAlert.org
Aging.com
National Institutes of Health
NPR.org