Senior Citizens Smoking Weed?

Marijuana Use
Rises Among Seniors
By Susan Dooley

In a recent CBS Sunday Morning story, reporter Barry Peterson explained that increasing numbers of
Americans ages 55 and older use marijuana for medical purposes, mainly to treat the aches and pains of
aging. Peterson interviewed 68-year-old Sue Taylor, a Californian retired from a career as a high school
principal. When she was still working, Taylor preached the dangers of drugs, but she now uses Gummi
Cares marijuana candies for arthritis pain relief when she overdoes it at the gym. Nicknamed the weed
lady, she serves as a public advocate for medical marijuana use among senior groups in California.

Legal Pot in More States Means More People Use Pot

CBS cites statistics from the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA),
showing showed marijuana use on the rise among those aged 55 and older: in 2014, there were
4,309,000 users, up from 2,812,000 in 2013. One reason for the increase in marijuana use in this age

The Coding Institute LLC, 2222 Sedwick Road, Durham, NC 27713, Eenterprise Contact: Sam Nair, Direct: 704 303 8150,
shyamn@codinginstitute.com

group relates to sheer numbers more states have legalized marijuana use for medical purposes. As of
2015, some 23 states, plus Washington, DC, had made this change.

DEA Schedule Laws Stymie Medical Research

Igor Grant, MD, distinguished professor and chair of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of
California at San Diego, directs the universitys state-funded Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research,
studying, among other things, potential medical benefits of pot. There is increasing evidence that
cannabis is helpful in the management of certain kinds of pain, Dr. Grant said, especially in treating
neuropathy, such as that experienced by AIDS patients and diabetics. In addition to effectively treating
neuropathic pain, marijuana and cannabis-derived drugs show promise in treating anxiety, depression,
and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Dr. Grant told Science magazine that no long-term damaging effects of marijuana use in adults have
been found. The only confirmed long-term effect of marijuana use by adults is chronic bronchitis, he
said. However, the jury is still out on long-term effects of marijuana in teens and children, whose brains
are still developing.

Marijuana: Schedule I Drug, Along With Heroin and LSD

Researching medical uses for marijuana isnt easy. Dr. Grant explained to David Wagner of KPBS News
that without the support of the state of California, the Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research would
never have been allowed to perform its studies. Because the federal Drug Enforcement Agency classifies
marijuana as Schedule I, a drug with no current accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse,
researchers find it extremely difficult to perform studies on marijuana that would meet FDA standards
for drug approval.
However, through the Center, Dr. Grant was able to coordinate a series of small trials with scientists
throughout the University of California system, sourcing their marijuana samples from the only federally
sanctioned marijuana growing operations, a pot farm at the University of Mississippi. The joints in the
study looked and smelled the same, but because the studies required placebos, some joints contained
no THC.
In setting up the studies, one of the hurdles Dr. Grant had to clear was convincing DEA agents that the
study samples would not leave the lab. The DEA has to come locally and say, Where are you going to
store it? Lets look at your research pharmacy, he said. In one case they said, Is that safe bolted to
the floor? However, the Centers persistence paid off. Dr. Grant said every medical study the Center
performed showed that marijuana benefited patients. Its completely incongruous that its sitting in
schedule I with other useless, dangerous drugs, he said.
Dr. Grant supports reclassifying marijuana to Schedule III. Drugs in this classification are recognized as
having an acceptable medical use and less potential for abuse than Schedule I and II drugs.

The Coding Institute LLC, 2222 Sedwick Road, Durham, NC 27713, Eenterprise Contact: Sam Nair, Direct: 704 303 8150,
shyamn@codinginstitute.com

How About You?

If you live in a state where marijuana is legal for medical use, have you had need to code for medical
marijuana use, perhaps with something like F12.90 (Cannabis use, unspecified, uncomplicated)? Let us
know.

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The Coding Institute LLC, 2222 Sedwick Road, Durham, NC 27713

The Coding Institute LLC, 2222 Sedwick Road, Durham, NC 27713, Eenterprise Contact: Sam Nair, Direct: 704 303 8150,
shyamn@codinginstitute.com