Study: Older Patients Respond Well to Medical Cannabis Treatments

A recent Observational Study published in the journal Drugs & Aging found that older patients who are prescribed medical cannabis products report experiencing better health and well-being after consuming cannabis, NORML reports.

Researchers collected data from cannabis patients in the United Kingdom including self-reported quality of life assessments, general health assessments, mood analysis, and sleep assessments using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Researchers looked specifically at a cohort of patients aged 65 and older, relative to younger individuals. Most of the patients participating in the study were prescribed cannabis for chronic pain, the report said.

“There were significant improvements across all measures of well-being,” the authors wrote, noting that younger patients outranked the aged 65+ cohort only in terms of sleep improvements.

“These findings accord with a growing body of observational and real-world evidence from jurisdictions that have legalized medicinal cannabis that cannabis is effective for improving sleep, mood and quality of health across multiple primary conditions.” — The authors, in a statement

The authors concluded that while there are “important differences” between cannabis patients aged 65+ and those who are younger, older individuals “experience considerable improvement in health and well-being when prescribed cannabis-based medicinal products.”

The results match Israeli data published in 2022 that found similar quality-of-life improvements in medical cannabis patients, NORML noted.

Meanwhile, a study published last month in the journal Pain found that cannabis terpenes could be an effective and side-effect-free treatment for chemotherapy-induced neuropathic pain.