In a Wall Street Journal essay by Aaron Greenstein and Haley Solomon, published on February 4, 2023, the team outlines the results of a research study they conducted on the the safety and efficacy of prescribing cannabis to seniors. The two Massachusetts-based doctors decided to pursue the study because they were seeing a very noticeable uptick in the number of their senior patients who were using [or at least, admitting to] using cannabis to cope with the daily challenges of getting older.
They ultimately published their findings in the Harvard Review of Psychiatry, which reported that they patients “used cannabis in many forms—as salves to soothe arthritis pain, tinctures to help with difficulty falling asleep, joints to relieve the stress of chronic PTSD and edibles to heal the anxiety of day-to-day life.” They also found that cannabis could have a calming and soothing effect to the agitation felt during advancing dementia and citing a recent study that suggests “cannabis may help to relieve agitation by regulating neurotransmitters, reducing brain inflammation and improving circadian rhythm disturbances seen in dementia.”
It’s important to note that the effects of terpenes on the body and mind are still being studied, and much more research is needed to fully understand their potential therapeutic benefits.