According to a new study on medical marijuana and the impacts it has on older adults, there are signs that cannabis-based products might provide numerous therapeutic benefits, including for health, sleep, mood, and overall well-being.
The authors of the study also stated that they saw “Sizable reductions in pain severity and pain interference among older-aged patients [reporting] chronic pain as their primary condition.”
The research conducted for the study was aimed to address “a general paucity of high-quality research” regarding medical marijuana and older adults “and a common methodological practice of excluding those aged over 65 years from clinical trials.” The research has been conducted at a time when a growing number of older patients have been turning to medicinal cannabis for relief.
According to the paper, “International evidence that older individuals may be the fastest growing increase in the use of medical marijuana comma coupled with their frequent exclusion from controlled trials, indicates a growing need for real-world evidence to assess the effectiveness and safety of these drugs for older individuals.”
The research team consisted of five people from the UK-based group Drug Science and Imperial College London’s Centre for Neuropsychopharmacology. During the study, the team looked at data from T21, which is a “large observational study of individuals seeking prescribed cannabis for a range of primary conditions in the UK,” and was launched in 2020.
Although “There has been a lack of access on the National Health Service, and CBMPs (cannabis-based medical products) are mostly prescribed via the private sector,” CBMP prescriptions have been legal in the UK since 2018. Guidelines currently recommend only two products and one synthetic cannabinoid. However, “there are currently over 200 unlicensed CBMPs available for prescription in the UK.”
The study specifically measured patient outcomes through self-reported quality of life, general health, mood, and sleep. The results reliably displayed “consistent improvements in each of the four well-being measures between entry to treatment and the three month follow up.”
The analysis found that “older-aged individuals who continue on CBMPs report considerable improvement in health and well-being when prescribed CBMPs.” The report continued, “While the extent of improvement in quality of life and mood was less for older individuals than that for those aged under 65 years, it was still substantial and, together with improvements in general health and sleep, suggests that older aged individuals may derive multiple health benefits from CBMP’s.”
The research also states that the levels of improvement in quality of life, general health, and sleep “were similar for older and younger aged individuals.”
The authors of the study say that the new findings are beginning to fill an existing void in marijuana research.
The team wrote, “There is currently a lack of published data on prescribed medical cannabis use in older individuals in the UK.” The paper states that a national survey conducted by the Center for Medical Cannabis “failed to distinguish older individuals aged over 55 years.”
Despite some differences between the benefits of medical cannabis on older adults and younger adults, “There was evidence of consistent improvement across multiple measures of well-being for these individuals after initiating use of medical cannabis,” according to the report. “Although it appeared that the extent of improvements in both mood and quality of life was lower in those aged 65 years or older compared with younger individuals, the improvements were considerable and contribute to our currently limited understanding of medical cannabis in older individuals.”
