Eloise Theisen never expected to become a specialist in medical cannabis. Now a geriatric nurse practitioner focused on cannabis therapy at Stanford Medicine, she first turned to cannabis herself after a severe car accident left her with chronic pain that other treatments failed to relieve.
When she later returned to work in an oncology clinic, she noticed many patients were already using cannabis or considering it, often without guidance from medical professionals.
"I found that our patients were going to use it whether their providers approved of it or not," Theisen said. "Many of our patients were older, and they had risks that needed to be evaluated and addressed before they started using cannabis."
Cannabis Use Is Rising Among Older Adults
Both medical and recreational cannabis use continue to increase across the United States, including among adults over 65. Yet researchers still have major unanswered questions about how cannabis affects the body and brain, partly because marijuana remains federally illegal, making some kinds of research difficult.
Many older adults use cannabis in hopes of easing chronic pain, insomnia, or anxiety. However, Smita Das, MD, PhD, clinical associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford Medicine, said there is still no broad medical agreement that cannabis effectively treats these conditions.
Read Full Article Here
