Cannabis for Seniors

by Beverly A Potter Ph.D.

Overview

CANNABIS FOR SENIORS is written for independent seniors - as well as for family members and caretakers seeking ways to manage their everyday health concerns without resorting to powerful, habit-forming, potentially dangerous medications.

CANNABIS FOR SENIORS reviews the latest scientific research regarding the health effects of marijuana and the effectiveness of various cannabis strains for managing specific health conditions.

It also presents anecdotal reports on cannabis use by seniors – so readers can learn about people “just like them” who have tried medical marijuana and had good results.

It addresses the myths and worries that many seniors have about marijuana use showing which concerns are founded in fact and which are simply based on inadequate or partial information.

CANNABIS FOR SENIORS discusses various methods of administering medical marijuana, explaining which conditions are best handled by smoking, eating, or using skin patches containing active medicinal cannabis components.

It deals in detail with the major conditions that cannabis can help:
• Sleep issues
• Depression
• Alzheimer’s disease
• Chronic pain
• Anxiety
• Digestive disorders
• Cancer
• Glaucoma
• Multiple sclerosis
• Parkinson’s disease
• Concussions
• Stroke
• …….and many more

For each condition, CANNABIS FOR SENIORS explains the scientific research and personal anecdotes supporting use of medical marijuana; helping seniors decide for themselves, or with the help of a caregiver, how best to cope with their personal health situations.

CANNABIS FOR SENIORS also discusses social elements of life that are facilitated by marijuana. Research shows that seniors who remain connected to friends, family members and community live longer, happier and healthier lives. The book shows how medical marijuana can help with these important social connections.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781579512439
Publisher:	Ronin Publishing
Publication date:	03/20/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	NOOK Book
Pages:	200
File size:	11 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Beverly A. Potter, PhD (“Docpotter”) earned her doctorate in counseling psychology from Stanford University and her masters in vocational rehabilitation counseling from San Francisco State University. She is a corporate trainer, public speaker and has authored numerous books on health and workplace issues like overcoming job burnout, managing yourself for excellence, high performance goal setting, mediating conflict, healing magic of cannabis, marijuana recipies (as Mary Jane Stawell), drug testing for employers and passing the test for employees.
Docpotter is based in Oakland, California. Her website—docpotter.com—is packed with useful information. Please visit.

Read an Excerpt

Why Cannabis for Seniors?
Baby boomers are turning 65 to become “Seniors” at an incredible rate of 10,000 each day. The percent of American aged 65 or older will grow to 18 percent by 2030 and it projected that the senior citizens population will balloon to 89 million by 2050. And if you’ve made it to 65, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) predicts that you will live another 19.3 years.

Baby boomers, born between 1946 and 1964, now becoming “Senior Boomers” will dramatically change the business and lifestyle landscape. Senior boomers are predicted to stay in the workforce longer than their parents did, both because they need the money and they’re not ready to leave behind fulfilling careers. When they finally do retire, their need for health care and assisted living is predicted to alter what retirement living arrangements look like for generations to come.

Special Issues
Seniors have special issues the most prominent of which is simple aging. The body wears out. Seniors have all kinds of aches like arthritis, stiff backs, knees, and hips, and muscle spasm. As it turns out cannabis is particularly soothing to muscles and ligaments.

Doctors readily prescribed strong narcotics—that are addicting, to seniors to ease these pains and do little monitoring of use—making it easy for seniors to slide into dependency without realizing it. It is not uncommon for seniors to be taking 8 to 10 pills, even more daily. Some report taking more than 20 pills a day!

It is easy for seniors become isolated. Their spouse may have died and their kids grown. They may be retired and no longer going to a work place every day to interact with co-workers. It is harder to meet new people as a senior. Just getting out and going places by oneself can be a chore; whereas when back in college when you just stepped out the door in the dorm to fall in with other kids going somewhere. Seniors are not likely to go to a hang out bar, especially alone. With isolation comes feeling lonely and hopeless to be able to change it. Possible anxiety and worrying about one’s situation and health and future.

Another frequent issue is getting a good night sleep. Having difficulty sleeping well seems to come with aging. Here, again doctors tend to over prescribe sleeping meds, which when used nightly can lead to dependency.

Cannabis has properties and benefit that seniors can draw upon for aid in these issues and to reduce the amount of strong narcotics and substitute the more benign cannabis therapeutics.

Learning to Use Cannabis
Seniors have had varying degrees of experience with cannabis. Many are regular users. Others had a few experiences in college or have been at parties where joints were passed that they may have tried. Others have not had direct experience, but almost all seniors have seen movies or read books wherein marijuana—pot—was used and enjoyed.

You may have heard that you “must learn to get high”. Or heard someone say something like, “I tried it a few times and nothing happened.” Sociologist Howard Becker’s research shows that when we ingest a drug we have to be taught to recognize the effects. For marijuana the effects usually include heightened senses, food cravings, and sometimes feelings of anxiety, that could progress to paranoia. The first few times we may ignore the effects or get frightened by them—as part of “learning” to use marijuana.

Drinking alcohol is common in our world. But we’re not born knowing how to “drink”. We’ve all experienced drinking too much and getting the “whirlies” or stumbling around, even passing out. In these early experiences we learned the feelings and effects of alcohol—what to expect and how to handle it. For some such early “training” is the first step in becoming a wine connoisseur, which is a very refined “taste”.

Learning to Use Cannabis Therapeutics
Learning to use cannabis therapeutically begins with you—an individual, a unique human. It is important to notice how you feel before using cannabis—as a baseline for comparison to how you feel after employing a particular “therapeutic” use. The emphasis here is on cannabis as therapeutic rather than cannabis as a “medicine”. Synonyms of therapeutic include healing, curative, remedial, medicinal, restorative, salubrious, health-giving, tonic, reparative, corrective, beneficial, good, salutary.

When speaking of cannabis many often make a distinction between “recreational” and “medical” cannabis. The premise here is that is a false distinction. Recreational = re-creational, which therapeutic. Having fun is beneficial and therapeutic. While “passing a joint” is considered as recreational, conviviality and laughing with friends is therapeutic.

Table of Contents

1 Why Cannabis for Seniors? 9

2 The Endocannabinoid System 14

3 Cannabis Myths 25

4 Routes into the Bloodstream 32

5 How to Use Cannabis 41

6 Therapeutic Strains 51

7 Tailor Your Therapeutics 58

8 Senior Opioid Epidemic 66

9 Reducing Opioid Dependency 73

10 Cannabis and Depression 80

11 Cannabis and Anxiety 90

12 Managing Pain 100

13 Mind/Body Pain Control 110

14 Neuroprotection 120

15 Cannabis and Chemo 131

16 A Good Night's Sleep 137

17 Quelling Discomforts 146

18 Cannabis Promotes Socializing 153

19 Healing Laughter 160

20 Cannabis Topicals 169

21 Cooking with Cannabis 174

22 DIY Cannabis Medicines 185

Bibliography 297

Author Bio 203

Ronin Books for Independent Minds 205

Editorial Reviews

She recommended a protocol that requires careful self-monitoring and thorough record keeping. “By charting it, you get a sense of dosage and effect,” she said. “This is very different from prescribed medicine.” She suggested using one of the many journals and apps available for people who are tracking their progress, as well as websites describing the benefits of different strains.

Aby Moon

The book is essentially a large-scale (and large-font) list of FAQs; any curious senior citizen (or newbie of any age, for that matter) is likely to have their basic questions answered in the book's 200 pages. Although at times vague, "Cannabis for Seniors" never-theless delivers a comprehensive overview of cannabis and its effects, particularly as they pertain to an older audience.

MAX SAVAGE LEVENSON

seniors and their caregivers learn cannabis basics such as what is a dose, the differences between eating and inhaling cannabis and how it can be used to improve sleep, reduce pain, boost mood and lower dependence on pharmaceuticals.

Emily Earlenbaugh

I found it to be very informative, detailed, and a very easy read.

Carrol Holloway-Dyer

It runs somewhat deeper than your standard how-to book, with a concise look at the chemical makeup of cannabis and the way it can help the ailments that typically plague older adults.

Ian Bastage

While she presents this perspective armed with credited and sourced information, Potter is largely persuasive because of her friendly, approachable tone. She is easy to understand and stays away from overly medical and scientific jargon, even when tackling subjects like the different types of trichomes on marijuana or the biphasic properties of cannabis.

Katerie Prior

By debunking myths that surround cannabis medicine to discussing the countless options of cannabis treatments and more, this new book contains all the evidence and information senior citizens look toward when considering cannabis to treat their medical conditions.

Jacob Cannon

What many seniors are discovering,” Potter continues, “is that cannabis, a once ill-perceived ‘street drug,’ may actually be an incredible asset to their over-all health and wellness, as well, especially when used in conjunction with other physician-recommended forms of therapy.

Betty Rhodes

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