Here is another cautionary tale about carrying a CBD product when traveling out of the jurisdiction where it was purchased. As goofy as it may sound, a 69-year-old great-grandmother was arrested at a Disney World checkpoint when an Orange County Deputy found CBD oil in her purse.
The woman, who uses the oil on her doctor’s recommendation to ease the pain from arthritis, spent 12 hours behind bars before being released on a $2,000 bond. While the woman had a note, but not a prescription, from the medical professional in her purse at the time of arrest, it didn’t matter. CBD oil is still technically illegal in the state of Florida unless the user has a prescription. Even then CBD products are still illegal in Florida, although the state is said to be on the verge of changing the law. In the meantime, 69-year-old Hester Burkhalter, plans to sue the theme park and Orange County alleging she “endured illegal detention, false arrest and a violation of her civil rights.” You can learn more by visiting the May 13, edition of the New York Daily News.
Seniors And Cannabis
Despite recent gains in the number of older Americans who use cannabis products, seniors remain an underserved segment of the cannabis market—and that means companies are missing out on a significant opportunity. That’s the word from Mary Clifton, MD and CEO of CBDandCannabisinfo.com. Clifton is an internal doctor with a speciality in cannabis,
Writing in an op-ed in Green Entrepreneurs she cites several reasons why companies should be paying more attention to seniors. For one, because of the unpredictable nature of the pharmaceutical industry she thinks seniors have and will continue to look for alternative solutions for ailments. For another, marijuana and CBD have been shown—either through studies or anecdotally—to help with a number of health-related issues, many seniors experience, such as, arthritis, insomnia and osteoporosis, as well as everyday aches and pains. Her entire editorial can be found in the January 9, 2019 issue of Green Entrepreneur.
Cannabis Trends
Women—boomers in particular—and wellness led the way when it came to cannabis sales in 2018. So say the experts at dispensaries.com—an online marketplace for cannabis products and services. Writing in a guest column in the periodical Green Entrepreneurs they pointed to a study that indicates the number of women buying cannabis in California doubled in 2018 from the year before.
The study—conducted by Eaze.com—also found an increase in the use of CBD in products such as face and body creams and bath products. The article referred to CBD as “the breakout star of the year.” The Eaze study also found CBD consumers nearly doubled in 2018, growing from 2.6 percent in 2017 to 4.8 percent in 2018. Baby Boomers are the most common CBD enthusiasts of all age groups (8.4 percent in 2018), and female Boomers are the most likely CBD users.
According to Peter Gigante, head of policy research at Eaze, a strong majority of women are using cannabis for wellness reasons, such as personal care and improved sleep. He added, “The fact that well-known beauty influencers and celebrities are using CBD also contributes to the normalization of cannabis for women too, and we only expect that to continue,” The complete study can be found at the January 15, 2019 issue of Ease.com.
Medical Matters
Here’s news about cannabis that older Americans may want to take to heart. Dosage is important, particularly if you haven’t used cannabis in a while. That is one key takeaway from the case of a Canadian man who experienced a heart attack after ingesting an entire edible marijuana lollipop. The problem was that it’s estimated the edible contained 90 milligrams of THC— approximately more than 10 times the dose in a typical joint.
According to an article in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology, the 70-year old man had smoked marijuana when he was younger but had never tried an edible product.The strength of the lollipop made for a much stronger experience than he expected. It’s believed that while the THC itself did not cause the heart attack, the larger than expected dose seems to have brought on a panic attack which, in turn, triggered the heart attack.
Dr. Neal Benowitz, co-author of the article, noted that some edible products may contain more than one serving of THC and in this case a few licks of the 90 mg THC lollipop might have been enough to provide the desired effect. The case is covered in a journal article by Dr. Bernowitz and Dr. Alexandra Saunders in the February 9, 2019 issue of the Canadian Journal of Cardiology and an article by Rachael Rettner in the February 11, 2019 issue of Live Science.
Tech Tools
Attention must be paid, particularly if you are trying to identify the strain of medical cannabis that is the right fit for you and the condition you want to address. So say many seniors and others who want to use cannabis for medical issues ranging from eating disorders to pain relief.
According to the Canadian cannabis company Namaste MD, maintaining what it calls a cannabis journal can help individuals monitor the effects different strains have on a specific condition. Their experts report that by noting how you feel after using a particular strain of cannabis, over time you will eventually create a personal “database” on the effects different strains have on your condition.
They also say a mobile phone app called Uppy can be a big help with the with the journaling process.It lets you use your mobile phone to make a voice recording that documents all aspects of your experience of using a particular strain.
Namaste maintains a website that lets Canadians speak to a nurse practitioner over an Internet video call to see if they qualify for a medical marijuana prescription. Canadians who qualify can receive a prescription online in minutes. To learn more about the journaling app, visit www.uppy.com.
Services For Seniors
Academic research may not be the only way to gauge the interest of Older Americans in recreational and medical marijuana. Another way is to pay attention to the marketplace to see what businesses are doing to create services and products designed to cater to the needs of seniors. Such services suggest where there is “smoke” there may be profits.
For example a recent New York times article by Paula Span described a marijuana dispensary that offers a package for a Southern California retirement community that is reminiscent of casino bus trips that were designed to cater to seniors. A medical marijuana dispensary, called Bud and Bloom, charters a bus to bring the retirement community residents to its Santa Ana location to stock up on cannabis supplies. The bus riders get a free round trip, a catered lunch and a senior discount. One suspects these services make good business sense for the dispensary. Span’s wide-ranging article appeared in the December 7, 2018 issue of the New York Times.
Senior Cannabis Digest is compiled and edited by Joe Kohut and John Kohut. You can reach us at seniorcannabisdigest.com or by calling 347-528-8753.