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They’re supposed to be our golden years, but for some seniors living in constant pain, daily living is anything but golden. The litany of illnesses responsible for their non-stop agony is familiar: arthritis, cancer, chronic pain, glaucoma, migraine, multiple sclerosis, and seizures, to name a few. So, too, is the lineup of medications on bathroom or kitchen counters: opioids to kill pain, muscle relaxers, medicines to control nausea from chemotherapy treatments or other illnesses, and on and on. The trouble is, many of these medications work against each other or, worse yet, don’t remedy the pain. For some seniors, however, there is one thing that does provide some relief: medical marijuana. And cannabis for the elderly is growing in popularity in California.

Should They or Shouldn’t They?

Despite years of indoctrination or learned response to prohibitions against use of marijuana due to potential addictive qualities, legal issues, or social non-acceptance, seniors with excruciating pain are beginning to overcome their reluctance to consider medical marijuana. Why? Because it works. In fact, California’s Compassionate Use Act of 1996, which was amended in 2004 by S.B. 420, was passed to help just such individuals find relief from constant pain. For more complete description of conditions included in the California legislation, as well as more information on the legal implications, see “Becoming a Patient in California” on the Americans for Safe Access website.

Still, some would argue that seniors are taking a chance in trying to form collectives for medical marijuana. While marijuana is decriminalized (and has been since 1975), individuals can still be fined, arrested, or wind up with a misdemeanor charge on their records. Seniors in Laguna Woods Village, a retirement community formerly known as Leisure World, found out first-hand the innate difficulties in trying to work through the murky legalities of trying to do just that. The average age of Laguna Woods Residents is 78. Some suffer from constant nausea from multiple sclerosis, or from uncontrolled glaucoma, cancer, arthritis, or a number of other conditions permitted in the Compassionate Use Act and S.B. 420. They’re trying to open their own nonprofit medical marijuana cooperative in their community, and call the cooperative the Laguna Woods for Medical Cannabis.

Laguna Woods passed the ordinance necessary to regulate medical cannabis dispensaries more than a year ago. But due to landlords not wanting such dispensaries on their properties, none had opened in the area. That prompted the Laguna Woods Village residents to take the initiative and do something for themselves. For the septuagenarians in the South Orange County community, it isn’t a question of should or shouldn’t – it’s a question of how soon and will it be okay legally?

California one of 13 States

The problem isn’t unique to California, either. Neither is the issue of legalization. California is one of 13 states that have legalized marijuana. The others are Alaska, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington. Two states, Arizona and Maryland, passed laws favorable towards medical marijuana, but fell short of legalizing it. For information on laws, fees and possession limits, see http://medicalmarijuana.procon.org/viewresource.asp?resourceID=000881

Fifteen more states have pending or ballot measures to legalize medical marijuana (as of December 2009). These states are Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Wisconsin. For a summary and status of the proposed legislation, see http://medicalmarijuana.procon.org/viewresource.asp?resourceID=002481

In addition, two more states, Florida and South Dakota, have petition drives underway, but the measures have not yet been officially added to state ballots.

Californians have a new initiative that will be on the November 2010 ballot. Tax Cannabis institutes a one ounce personal possession limit and allows for personal cultivation. The measure refers to local control, where cities and counties can decide whether to allow regulated medical marijuana sales at all, and how that would work. The initiative would allow personal consumption, possession, and cultivation of cannabis by any adult over 21 throughout California.

Doctors Speak Out

The website ProCon.org lists doctors’ comments on the subject of medical marijuana. They are illustrative of the type of fierce debate going on in this country. Here are some excerpted comments in response to the question, “Should marijuana be a medical option?”

• Dr. Dean Edell, M.D., Physician and Radio Host – “Cannabinoids and THC also have strong pain-killing powers, which is one reason medical marijuana should be readily available to people with cancer and other debilitating diseases.” (2000, The Dr. Dean Edell Show)

• David Katzenstein, M.D., Associate Medical Director of Stanford University AIDS Clinical Trial Group – “…it is clear that there are people who use marijuana solely to ameliorate symptoms associated with chronic disease, such as HIV/AIDS. This suggests that cannabinoids have potential benefit as a therapeutic class of agents.” (Feb. 2004)

• Kate Scannell, M.D., Co-Director of Kaiser-Permanente Northern California Ethics Department – “From working with AIDS and cancer patients, I repeatedly saw how marijuana could ameliorate a patient’s debilitating fatigue, restore appetite, diminish pain, remedy nausea, cure vomiting and curtail down-to-the-bone weight loss.”

• Claude Varney, M.D., Medical Director of the Neurological Rehabilitation and MS Centre in Switzerland – “Cannabis can be an effective alternative for patients that do not respond to ordinary drugs.” (International Week on MS conference, Basel, Switzerland, Sep. 14, 1999)

• Frank Lucido, M.D., Physician in private medical practice in Berkeley, CA – “Cannabis has a long and impressive history as a safe and effective medicine…I am widely known to be a thorough, caring, and trusted physician, who takes the time and effort to establish that the patient is appropriate in their use of medical cannabis.” (email from the doctor Apr. 6, 2006)

• Gregory T. Carter, M.D., Clinical Professor at the School of Medicine at the University of Washington and Co-Director of the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA)/Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) Center – “Cannabinoids are now known to have the capacity for neuromodulation, via direct, receptor-based mechanisms, at numerous levels within the nervous system. These provide therapeutic properties that may be applicable to the treatment of neurological disorders, including anti-oxidative, neuroprotective effects, analgesia, anti-inflammatory actions, immunomodulation, modulation of glial cells and tumor growth regulation. Beyond that, the cannabinoids have also been shown to be remarkably safe with no potential for overdose.” (Article posted on MDA website, Oct. 2003)

To see the full list of 90 physicians and their medical comments (pro or con), go to http://medicalmarijuana.procon.org/viewresource.asp?resourceID=001529

Combating Pain with Medical Marijuana

How it currently works in California is that individuals with allowable conditions must first see a physician before becoming a legal medical marijuana patient. There are no prescriptions for medical marijuana. Instead, the physician issues a written recommendation. See Finding a Doctor for more information on finding a physician.

Americans for Safe Access provides tips for patients using medical marijuana. These include:

• Smoking – This produces the most immediate effect and permits the most refined dosage control.

• Vaporizing – Use of cannabis vaporizers allows users to inhale the active ingredients while avoiding harmful smoke toxins.

• Eating – Adding cannabis to baked items such as cookies or brownies is another way to use medical marijuana. It may take longer to be able to control dosage and it takes longer to feel the effects than other methods of consumption.

• Tea – Marijuana is an herb and, like other herbs, can be made into a tea.

• Tincture – See the site for how to make a tincture from medical marijuana.

• Compress – This follows the same principle as tea. See the website for details.

• Marinol – This is a synthetic petrochemical analog of THC. Use only under medical supervision.

Side effects, as listed in the website, include feelings of uneasiness, hunger and thirst, red eyes, drowsiness, sleeplessness, giddiness and short-term memory loss.

For booklets on specific conditions, see http://medicalmarijuanaandseniors.org/. Booklets include the following conditions: aging, arthritis, cancer, chronic pain, gastrointestinal disorders, HIV/AIDS, movement disorders, and multiple sclerosis. Here is a brief recap of some of the benefits of medical marijuana on four of these chronic conditions.

Arthritis – More than 31 million Americans have arthritis. There are two types of arthritis: rheumatoid and osteoarthritis. Both affect the joints, cause pain and swelling, and limit movement. They are both also common among the elderly, whose immune systems are not as efficient, or whose cartilage has worn away. Arthritis in the form of chronic inflammation of the joints can also occur as a result of injuries. According to Americans for Safe Access,

“Cannabis has a demonstrated ability to improve mobility and reduce morning stiffness and inflammation. Research has also shown that patients are able to reduce their usage of potentially harmful Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) when using cannabis as an adjunct therapy.”

Cancer – The American Cancer Society currently lists 269 medicines currently prescribed to treat cancer and its symptoms, and to treat side effects from other cancer drugs. Cannabis has been found to be helpful for cancer patients combating pain and nausea. Recent research shows cannabis also has anti-carcinogenic and tumor-reducing properties. It effectively controls nausea that results from chemotherapy treatments. The appetite stimulation properties of cannabis help combat cachexia, or wasting syndrome. Cannabis can also help control the pain associated with some cancers, as well as that resulting from radiation and chemotherapy treatments.

Chronic Pain – Seniors (and others) with persistent and chronic pain may be suffering as a result of cancer, AIDS, sickle cell anemia, multiple sclerosis, injuries or defects to the back, neck or spinal cord, arthritis, rheumatoid and degenerative hip, joint or connective tissue disorders, and severe burns. When someone is so debilitated by agonizing pain, they often want to discontinue life-saving procedures (such as chemotherapy or surgery). They simply want to die. For those patients in chronic pain, the goal is to minimize the pain as much as possible and be able to function again in a normal fashion. A concurrent goal is to reduce the often debilitating side-effects of pain therapies. Cannabis can help with chronic pain in two ways: by diminishing the pain itself (alone or in combination with other analgesics), and in controlling nausea associated with taking opioids, as well as dizziness, vomiting and nausea that so often accompanies prolonged and severe pain.

Multiple Sclerosis – Americans for Safe Access states that and estimated 350,000 people in the U.S. are living with the painful, debilitating, and often fatal, effects of multiple sclerosis (MS). While symptoms vary from person to person, one that is frequently noted is spasticity, which causes pain, spasms, loss of function, and nursing care difficulties. MS patients report, according to the website, that cannabis has a “startling and profound effect on muscle spasms, tremors, balance, bladder control, speech and eyesight. Many wheelchair-bound patients report that they can walk unaided when they have smoked cannabis.”

Future of Medical Marijuana and Seniors – Hazy or Bright?

Getting beyond debate over ethics, legality or addiction, what is the future of medical marijuana and seniors – particularly in California? Don’t be confused by what opponents will characterize as a pot-induced haze. That’s not the issue here. What we must begin to contemplate is whether or not we want to make good on the language that currently exists in the Compassionate Use Act and S.B. 420. Do we really want to have our elderly citizens who are in chronic pain suffering needlessly? Or anyone else who falls under the allowable conditions for personal use of medical marijuana?

When a solution such as medical marijuana is available, the only logical response should be that it should be permitted, that the technicalities and legal jargon and jurisdictional and regulatory issues be worked out. No one deserves to live in constant, chronic pain. Not when we have a workable, low-risk solution.

Backed by continuing research, countless research papers, clinical trials and anecdotal experiences, the time for medical marijuana and seniors has finally come. After all, seniors are a majority of the U.S. population – and growing older every day. According to the U.S. Bureau of the Census, there are 37 million Americans aged 65 or older, and 5.7 million who are 85 or older. For those of us in our golden years, then, sometimes it makes sense to consider medical marijuana to alleviate chronic pain.