Medical Cannabis for the Elderly: Safe, Therapeutic and Cost Effective

With medical cannabis being recognized as an effective analgesic, its use by the elderly is becoming more common. This study reviews adverse events induced by medical cannabis treatment among people over the age of 65. Adverse events were limited and well tolerated by study participants and included drowsiness, dizziness and gastrointestinal side effects. Interestingly, despite episodes of dizziness patients have reported a decreased number of falls after starting treatment with medical cannabis. Moreover, the vast majority of patients have stopped taking chronic pain medications or reduced the dosages for medications they have used prior to the study.