Herbal healing[/caption]Carol Forsloff --If Sanjay Gupta can change his mind on weed, so can Grandma. As a matter of fact many Grandmas already have, as some have found that some of those multiple pill boxes can go in the trash since medical marijuana can help with a number of ailments.
Diabetes is becoming almost fashionable these days, in that those who don't have it yet are in the line waiting to get it, epidemic-style as it is. Burning feet can cause great misery, and those who have tried a cookie or two before bed have found the pain can ease a good bit, to virtually nothing at all. Marijuana has been found useful for the treatment of diabetic neuropathy, a painful condition that can be devastating at times and expensive to treat with prescriptions that cause significant side effects. But a marijuana cookie or salve on the feet can surely help.
Eyesight a problem? One of the main benefits medically is the lowering of eye pressure. Many eye specialists would agree, even if it is sometimes just temporary.
Pain reduction is a valuable use for medical marijuana. Arthritis ailments can get Grandma and many of her friends down to the point of virtual inactivity. But marijuana has been found useful for pain control, lowering the need for the hardcore medicine that one can't get for prolonged use. Marijuana users can be abusers, like anything can be abused. Still if discretion is the better part of courage, as we have learned at one time, then it means that just saying no for just having fun and having it for medication means not indulging just to indulge.
If most evidence on marijuana is anecdotal, that's because the government has run interference so much that research has not been a priority. But given the clash between Federal and State laws, with the former saying no to it all and 20 of the states saying yes at least to marijuana's medical use, it seems to time to listen to the voices of experience.
And some of them are grandmothers. As one clinic in Portland observes, "Most of our patients are over 50. They are getting aches and pains and at the age where they find marijuana helpful. Some of those baby boomers who smoked it in their youth at least aren't afraid of it and willing to try it for medicinal uses."
So if Sanjay Gupta is making a change, Grandma can be right behind, leaving the idea of growing old and disabled not among the worries of most, as things change and so will the concerns and the minds of seniors.
