Welcome to Senior Cannabis Digest. This week we look at cannabis use by older adults, using transdermal patches to administer cannabis, treating anxiety with cannabis and more. Enjoy.
Cannabis and Older Adults
A new study of medical cannabis use by older adults in Canada found the majority of subjects reported less pain, better sleep, and an improved mood after using it.
The study aimed to assess the characteristics of older medical cannabis users including the reason for using cannabis, the type and amount of cannabis used, perceived changes in symptoms after cannabis use, change in dose of concurrent medications, and adverse effects.
Data were collected between October 2014 and October 2020 from 9,766 patients aged 65 and older who were visiting a Canada-wide network of clinics of a medical cannabis provider and who were willing to answer questionnaires.
Researchers found that among older adults, medical cannabis is used more often by women than men, with CBD-containing cannabis oils being the most common form of cannabis used. In general, users reported improved pain management (72.7 percent), improved sleep (64.5 percent) and improved mood symptoms (52.8 percent) after cannabis use. About one third reported requiring a reduced dose of opioid medication while just under twenty percent (19.9 percent) reported a reduction in the dose of their benzodiazepine medication.
The study also described the patterns of use of medical cannabis by older adults and according to the authors of the study, highlighted the need for more research to determine the most appropriate medical reasons for using cannabis, recommendations for more precise doses of active ingredients, and short- and long-term outcomes among older adults.
The study team did acknowledge the study results left them with some concerns about what they described as possible harms resulting from cannabis use by older individuals. Specifically, a small percentage of subjects reported increasing opioid medications after using cannabis, while others reported drowsiness and dizziness which researchers thought could lead to an increased risk of falls and impaired driving.
The research team included representatives from the Neuropsychopharmacology Research Group, Sunnybrook Research Institute, Toronto, ON, Canada,
the Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada and researchers from several other Canadian institutions.
The study was published in the December 2021 issue of the journal Drugs and Aging.
To read an abstract of the study just click on the clink that follows.
link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40266-021-00913-y
An Innovative Way to Use Medical Cannabis
Mature consumers of medical cannabis and others may soon turn to a new way to deliver CBD or THC directly to a specific area of the body in need of treatment: transdermal patches.
According to Shelley Levitt, who penned an article on the method for WeedMap News, transdermal patches are not new. They are already used to deliver a variety of compounds, such as nicotine, estrogen, testosterone, the high-blood pressure medication clonidine, and the heart drug nitroglycerine. The method is relatively simple—the patch is applied to the skin and the drug seeps into the bloodstream.
Jeremy Riggle, the chief operating scientist at Mary’s Brands, which includes Mary’s Nutritionals, Mary’s Medicinals and Mary’s Whole Pet, told Levitt the direct-to-bloodstream path offers several advantages over other forms of cannabis consumption. Said Riggle, “With inhaling, you get a high dose right away, which your body metabolizes quickly. There’s instant stimulation of the endocannabinoid system [ECS]. With slower, prolonged delivery, you can get the endocannabinoid system to where it’s functioning optimally.”
Riggle also noted that transdermal patches offer another key benefit over oral methods of consumption, such as tinctures, edibles, or sublingual sprays, strips, or drops. When cannabis is consumed orally the active ingredient passes through the digestive system and then the liver before it reaches the ECS. As a result, potency is greatly reduced. Said Riggle,“If you orally consume 10 milligrams of THC or CBD, roughly half of that will be metabolized during a first pass.” That’s not the case with transdermal patches.
Dr. Christopher DiMeo, a New York City anesthesiologist who is also the medical adviser for HATH, a company that makes a 24-hour, 35-milligram CBD patch, told Levitt, “I think CBD transdermal patches are another tool in our toolkit, one that can potentially lead to better pain management while also reducing the reliance on opiates as the pain reliever of choice.” He added CBD patches might offer a reasonable approach for dealing with mild to moderate post-surgical pain during recuperation or the pain from overuse injuries such as Achilles tendinitis, runner’s knee, or tennis elbow.
Levitt also reported that cannabis companies such as Mary’s Medicinals and Papa & Barkley now offer a variety of patches that contain cannabidiol (CBD), THC, a CBD:THC blend, cannabinol (CBN), and THCA.
To learn more about using transdermal patches that contain cannabis, including advice on dosing, we encourage you to read Shelley Levitt’s article. While it was originally written for WeedMaps News, it appeared more recently in the December 27, 2021 issue of Benzinga.
Stats of the Week
This week’s magic number—35 percent—may have you rethinking your assumptions about the work habits of computer programmers. That’s because according to a recent study more than one-third of software programmers say they’ve used marijuana while working.
Kyle Jaeger, writing for Marijuana Moment, reports that researchers at the University of Michigan asked 803 developers if using marijuana is part of their work routine.
Thirty five percent of survey participants, according to Jaeger, said that they’ve “tried cannabis while programming or completing another software engineering-related task.” Seventy-three percent of that group said they’ve consumed marijuana while working in the past year.
In addition, 27 percent of respondents said they used it at least twice a week and four percent said they use it while working on a nearly daily basis.
The study also found the most common tasks that people used marijuana for were brainstorming, prototyping, coding and testing.
Researchers said a key reason for conducting the study was the belief that the drug testing policies common in the programming sector may be contributing to “hiring shortages for certain jobs.” This is thought to be particularly true of government jobs.
You can learn much more by reading Kyle Jaeger’s informative article in the December 27, 2021 issue of Marijuana Moment. As usual, his reporting is first rate.
Using Cannabis to Treat Anxiety
There may be good news for those who suffer from generalized anxiety disorder. A recent study suggests they may benefit from a course of treatment that includes the use of cannabis-based medicinal products (CBMPs).
That’s a key finding of a study that appeared in the journal Expert Review of Clinical Pharmacology. According to the British research team, anxiety disorders are the most prevalent type of psychiatric illness in the United Kingdom and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)—thought to be the most common anxiety disorder— can debilitate and reduce the quality of life of those who suffer from the condition.
The study focused on 67 patients who attended the Sapphire Clinics for medicinal cannabis treatment for GAD. Researchers reported that “medicinal cannabis may improve generalized anxiety disorder, general health-related quality of life, and sleep-specific outcomes at 1, 3 and 6 months after starting treatment.”
The research team acknowledged there was also “a low number of severe, disabling and life-threatening adverse events experienced by patients.”
To read an abstract of the study, you can click on the link that follows.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17512433.2022.2020640?
Cannabis Quote of the Week
“It smells like weed all the damn time, even right here in our offices. We’re one of the reddest states around, but we have the country’s most permissive marijuana laws.”—Tim Turner.
Mr. Turner, a Republican, is the Sheriff of Oklahoma’s Haskell County. His observation is taken from an article Simon Romero penned for the New York Times.
According to Romero, because of Oklahoma’s fairly lax rules on who can obtain a medical card, about 10 percent of Oklahoma’s nearly four million residents have one, the most of any state by far. He also noted that Oklahoma now has more retail cannabis stores than Colorado, Oregon and Washington combined.
Said Romero, “In October, it (Oklahoma) eclipsed California as the state with the largest number of licensed cannabis farms, which now number more than 9,000, despite a population only a tenth of California’s.”
To learn more, we encourage you to read Mr. Romero’s article on the growth of marijuana-related businesses in Oklahoma. It appears in the December 29, 2021 issue of the New York Times.
www.nytimes.com/2021/12/29/us/oklahoma-marijuana-boom.html
Senior Cannabis Digest is compiled and edited by Joe Kohut and John Kohut. You can reach them at joe.kohut@gmail.com or at 347-528-8753.
