Old and pained go to pot

[Brash]

Author: Clara Pirani

Date: October 21, 2005

Source: The Australian (News Lmited)

Copyright: © The Australian 2005

Links: article link

link to post in medical cannabis forum about survey results

 

Old and pained go to pot

Clara Pirani, Medical reporter

October 21, 2005

 

OLDER Australians are using cannabis to treat chronic pain, arthritis and nausea, claiming it is more effective than prescribed medications.

 

A University of NSW study of cannabis use among people over the age of 50 found 57 per cent of users cited chronic pain as a reason for taking the drug, 56 per cent cited depression, 35 per cent arthritis and 27 per cent persistent nausea.

 

"This study found a variety of people were willing to risk legal ramifications to use cannabis for medical purposes, including older people who have never used the drug in the past," said Wendy Swift, a lecturer at the university's National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre.

 

"The older people who are using it for medicinal purposes don't use it recreationally.

 

"And they are telling their doctors and specialists about it and they are typically getting support, which is important." Most of the 128 people surveyed used cannabis at least weekly, and 59 per cent used it daily.

 

Margaret Halliday, 72, began using cannabis two years ago when the pain from her arthritis and multiple sclerosis became unbearable.

 

Despite taking several prescription painkillers, Mrs Halliday had difficulty walking, and needed a chairlift to get up the stairs in her house.

 

"The medication was not very effective, so one night I psyched myself up to have a cannabis cigarette and I was amazed at how quickly it worked, and how effective it was," she said.

 

"It was incredible. I was able to walk without pain and I was able to walk up and down the stairs, whereas I usually need to use a stairlift."

[Brash]

More press on this one to follow. I've just been interviewed by Australian Associated Press and they also want a photo of someone conservative smoking

[mull]

Good work Margaret! It's a shame she had to wait so long to 'phych up'.

 

Do you reckon the only reason cannabis is baulked at as a medicine, is simply because it also makes you feel 'high' - read high as 'good' or 'well'?

Pain relieving aside, is it the feeling good, or high, that society doesn't wish for the ill/ unwell or beneficiaries of MJ?

 

It's that high, or feeling good or well, that many use cannabis as a medicine for.

[dsyfer]

I reckon they feel that if they can't or don't want it then nobody should be allowed to. That is normally the only reason aside from greed that something beneficial is held back or discredited.

 

That is the reason we are not driving electric or hybrid petrol electric transport, it is only recently that the automotive industry realised that oil won't last forever, so we better start thinking about that. Hydrogen and electric driven transport has been squashed and discredited for years by these companies that would have lost too much money.

[Hanky]

Bong on granpa!

[HighRising]

I always wondered where this pic came from

[raverspec]

ROFL at that pic! Hahahahahahahaha. "Think I'll have a bucket with Nanna"

[Hanky]

That's if she's saved any cones. She's a mull pig.

[Brash]

More press on this one to follow. I've just been interviewed by Australian Associated Press and they also want a photo of someone conservative smoking

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Found a couple of shots that AAP took of me today with the caption they used on their website:

link: link to photos on AAP website

MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Justin Brush smokes a Marijuana joint at a park in Sydney, Friday, Oct. 21, 2005. 128 elderly Australians were surveyed by the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre studying the medical use of cannabis, and about a third of them, like Mr Brash, were 50 or older. Mr Brash, who's been HIV-positive for 20 years, uses marijuana to improve his appetite and suppress nausea.(AAP Image/Paul Miller)

[Mushaman]

Good on you Brashi :thumbsup