To cope with dementia, seniors are turning to cannabis
Live MintMore older adults are using marijuana for sleep, anxiety and pain. “It’s a fairly common practice among people living with dementia," says Brenda Roberts, executive director of the nonprofit National Council of Dementia Minds, a dementia-patient advocacy group. She says her 72-year-old husband, Mark Roberts, who was diagnosed with vascular dementia a little over 10 years ago, takes a liquid dose of cannabis twice a day to help control anxiety and outbursts. That drowsiness can further weaken cognitive functioning in Alzheimer’s patients, says Dr. Jacobo Mintzer, a psychiatrist and professor at the Medical University of South Carolina who is researching cannabis treatment in dementia patients. What the science says There isn’t much definitive research on cannabis and its impact on cognitive impairment and dementia, says Dr. Ronald Petersen, a professor of neurology at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science in Rochester, Minn.
History of this topic
CBG from cannabis plant reduces anxiety, stress and boosts memory: New study
Hindustan Times
The rocky vista of medicinal cannabis research is bringing into view
The Hindu
Dementia: What it is, when you should become concerned, and how you can help others
The HinduDiscover Related
)
