Welcome to Senior Cannabis Digest. This week we look at a study that suggests cannabis use can lead to falls among seniors, a new home delivery service for recreational cannabis, the growth in popularity of cannabis products called extracts and more. Enjoy.
Cannabis Use, Falls and Seniors
Chronic use of cannabis by older individuals may put them at increased risk for falling and impaired motor function. That’s the word from researchers at the University of Iowa and Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Their study intended to investigate if cannabis use in older adults influences fall risk, cognitive function, and motor function.
The researchers hypothesized that chronic cannabis use would exacerbate the poorer balance control and slower gait velocity associated with normal aging.
Falls can be serious business for seniors. The study cited the 2014 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analysis of data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey in the United States. That analysis found that over a quarter ( 28.7 percent) of older adults revealed that they had at least one fall in the previous 12 months. Of those who fell, 37.5 percent reported that at least one of their falls required medical treatment or limited their movement. Those falls resulted in or contributed to approximately 27,000 deaths in this same period.
In addition, falls can be costly for seniors and those who insure and treat them. The average Medicare expenditure is approximately $10,000 per fall and this cost increases for individuals over 72. Medical costs for falls in older adults were estimated in 2014 to be $50 billion annually.
In addition, falls can be costly for seniors and those who insure and treat them. The average Medicare expenditure is approximately $10,000 per fall and this cost increases for individuals over 72. Medical costs for falls in older adults were estimated in 2014 to be $50 billion annually.
Clearly, if cannabis use by seniors increases their chance of falling or significantly impairs their balance or motor skills this is something seniors who choose to use cannabis to relieve pain or aid in sleep need to be aware of. While the study seemed to indicate cannabis use may enhance the chance of falling for seniors—along with something they refer to as a “slower walking gait”—it did not find cannabis use by older individuals resulted in cognitive impairment, which is consistent with the findings of other studies.
Unfortunately, there are a number of factors that make the study far from authoritative. For starters, the sample size was extremely small—eight individuals between the ages of 50 to 80 who used medical cannabis. Nor is it clear from the study what the researchers considered to be chronic use or the strength of the cannabis products (percentage of THC) that the participants used. In addition it is not clear if there were any other factors that would increase the chance of falling by the participants.
That being said the research—certain to be headline fodder and click bait —does perform a valuable service by raising an issue that cannot be dismissed out of hand. As with any other medication, using medical cannabis is a matter of balancing risk and reward. Seniors who choose to use medical cannabis need to be aware of the effects it may have on their balance, or how it may interact with other medication, and act accordingly in order to reduce the chance they will be susceptible to falling.
For some that may mean adjusting their dose and for others that may mean paying more attention to when and where they use medical cannabis, whether they use it alone or with others or their frequency of use. And for still others it may mean not using it at all.
To learn more, you can read the study “Increased Likelihood of Falling in Older Cannabis Users vs. Non-Users.” It appeared in volume 11, issue 2 of the journal Brain Sciences. Just click on the link that follows.
www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/11/2/134/htm
Cannabis Trends
As many mature consumers know, the cannabis industry is not at the same state of maturity everywhere in the United States. In some states the market is still in an early stage of development and the ability to legally purchase marijuana for recreational purposes remains something of a novelty.
However, in other states, such as Colorado, California and Oregon, the cannabis industry has evolved to the point where dispensaries can begin to implement services designed to make purchasing recreational cannabis more convenient for consumers, such as home delivery.
For example, a company called Lantern, described as the leading on-demand cannabis e-commerce marketplace and home delivery platform in the U.S., has announced plans to be the first on-demand cannabis delivery service to offer recreational delivery in Colorado, beginning early 2021.
Lantern is an independently operated subsidiary of Drizly Group, the largest online marketplace and delivery service for alcohol in North America and a market leader in Colorado.
Colorado authorized medical and adult-use cannabis delivery to commence in 2020 and 2021, respectively, but state laws require individual municipalities to opt in to delivery services. The city of Aurora will be the first city in the state to allow recreational deliveries.
Here is how the service will work. Once Aurora’s local law goes into effect, customers over the age of 21 in the city will be able to place recreational cannabis orders online at LanternNow.com and have products delivered to their doorstep within an hour. Local dispensaries will be able to list their full menus on the company’s website and consumers will be able to select from the products listed in these menus.
It’s not clear if munchies will have to be ordered separately.
To learn more, visit the press release describing the service. It appeared on PRnewswire.com on December 22, 2020.
Cannabis Quote of the Week
“My edible gummies for humans are meant to relax, to soothe, to get that edge off your life. Last year has been tremendously difficult for so many people and a gummy or two helps with that kind of chaos we have been experiencing.” —Domestic style goddess and cannabis entrepreneur Martha Stewart.
The quote comes from an interview Stewart did with Jayson Derrick for Benzinga. In the interview Stewart acknowledged that despite recent robust sales, she and her corporate partner, cannabis giant Canopy Growth, still faced what she described as an uphill battle with their new CBD products for pets. As she put it, as many veterinarians are “not yet on the CBD wagon.”
To learn more, read Jayson Derrick’s interview with Martha Stewart. It appeared in the February 2, 2021 edition of Benzinga.com.
Stat of the Week
Two magic numbers caught our eye this week. The first is 95 percent and the second is 40 percent.
The 95 percent is the percentage of THC found in products known by a wide variety of colorful names, such as badder, budder, crumble—and our favorite—moon rocks. These and others fall under the broad category of cannabis concentrates.
According to Seattle-based data analytics firm Headset, a concentrate is “a product mechanically or chemically derived from cannabis with a higher cannabinoid potency than the original plant material, usually intended for smoking or vaporizing.”
According to Bart Schaneman, writing for Marijuana Business Daily, “The concentrates category is typically thought of as the next level for the experienced cannabis connoisseur. That’s because the products are often very potent – with THC content as much as 95 percent compared with 20 percent to 35 percent for flower.”
Concentrates are becoming a more potent player in the marketplace as well. In fact, sales of marijuana concentrates increased by more than 40 percent—our other magic number—in 2020 last year and according to Headset, accounted for a larger share of the overall cannabis market, with total sales of concentrates increasing from $567 million in 2019 to $797 million in 2020, according to Headset.
It should be made clear that those figures represent sales in states where recreational cannabis for adults is legal.
To learn more about concentrates, who is using them and why, we encourage you to read Bart Schaneman’s informative and entertaining article in the February 8, 2021 issue of Marijuana Business Daily.
Senior Cannabis Digest is compiled and edited by Joe Kohut and John Kohut. They can be reached at joe.kohut@gmail.com.
Investment trends.
Falls can be serious business for seniors. The study cited the 2014 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analysis of data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey in the United States. That analysis found that over a quarter ( 28.7 percent) of older adults revealed that they had at least one fall in the previous 12 months. Of those who fell, 37.5 percent reported that at least one of their falls required medical treatment or limited their movement. Those falls resulted in or contributed to approximately 27,000 deaths in this same period.
Falls can be serious business for seniors. The study cited the 2014 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analysis of data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey in the United States. That analysis found that over a quarter ( 28.7 percent) of older adults revealed that they had at least one fall in the previous 12 months. Of those who fell, 37.5 percent reported that at least one of their falls required medical treatment or limited their movement. Those falls resulted in or contributed to approximately 27,000 deaths in this same period.