Carol Forsloff - Two
marijuana initiatives were voted down in Oregon and California to
liberalize marijuana laws and use, but the medical marijuana usage is
beginning to expand, even to nursing homes.
The elderly often lack of medical treatment or they take pills in great
numbers when milder medications, or even marijuana, could make a
difference.
According
to reports concerning the use of medications by the elderly, although
they constitute only 12.7 percent of the population they account for
approximately 40 percent of over-the-counter medications.
Powerful
pills taken by many nursing home residents can create severe side
effects. Often there can be significant cases of what appears to be
nursing home abuse because of overmedication. There is also a lack of
real treatment that can lead to bed sores.
The medication given nursing home patients may also make it difficult for families to interact with their loved ones.
A senior expressed the benefits of marijuana provided by his adult son
as changing his mental condition from "feeling like a zombie" to being
able to interact with others and cut back on painkillers.
Chronic and severe pain can also be helped with marijuana as in the
case of Norma Winkler, 82, who mixes cannabis oil in applesauce to
relieve a back injury. She claims no other medication has allowed her
to function normally. Her case is reported by a legal expert exploring marijuana and its benefits to nursing home patients in reducing medications that can produce serious side effects.
There are legal implications in providing medical marijuana to nursing
home patients because even those who use marijuana for medical purposes
violate federal law. Some states allow its provision for medical
purposes but few states have noted marijuana's benefits in nursing homes
nor have they passed regulations to assist with its regulations. There
is also the problem that many of the elderly receive federal funding
through Medicare or Medicaid.
Experts
tell us with the aging of baby boomers marijuana use may be considered a
real possibility in the treatment of the elderly.
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