This comprehensive guide demystifies medical cannabis for seniors, providing expert guidance on safe and effective use to alleviate common aging symptoms, from a credentialed primary care physician and cannabis specialist.
With sixty million Americans over sixty-five and twice that number over fifty, many are seeking alternatives to often-harmful pharmaceuticals. Medical marijuana helps with multiple symptoms of aging, such as chronic pain, anxiety, and insomnia, with relatively low toxicity if used properly.
This is the essential guide for the "canna-curious" senior, family member, or caregiver, providing practical instructions, real-life case studies, and a balanced view of the benefits and risks of cannabis and CBD. Dr. Peter Grinspoon, a primary care physician and cannabis specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital and a Harvard Medical School instructor, addresses the "why" and "how" of cannabis use--from science and health benefits to potential risks, types and forms of cannabis, consumption methods, and appropriate dosages. He guides readers through the buying experience, legal considerations, and becoming a certified medical marijuana patient, emphasizing doctor-patient communication for safe and effective use.
Peter Grinspoon, MD is a primary care physician and cannabis specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital and an instructor in medicine at Harvard Medical School. He is also a certified addiction medicine specialist, and a certified health and wellness coach. Dr. Grinspoon is a board member of the advocacy group Doctors for Drug Policy Reform and an advisor to the Parabola Group, which advocates for social justice in the cannabis space. He spent two years as an associate director of the Massachusetts Physician Health Service, treating and monitoring hundreds of physicians with addiction. He is the author of the memoir Free Refills: A Doctor Confronts His Addiction. Dr. Grinspoon is a widely recognized expert on cannabis science and drug policy and is a contributing editor to Harvard Health Publications. He has been on NPR's All Things Considered, as well as national television shows including NBC Nightly News and MSNBC.
Staci Gruber, PhD, is the director of the Cognitive and Clinical Neuroimaging Core and the Marijuana Investigations for Neuroscientific Discovery (MIND) program at McLean Hospital. She is an associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Her research focuses on the application of neurocognitive models and neuroimaging to better characterize risk factors for substance misuse and psychiatric conditions. Dr. Gruber studies the impact of marijuana on the brain using neurocognitive, clinical, and diagnostic assessments, and multimodal brain imaging techniques. She works to educate policymakers and the general public about the neurobiologic differences between adults and adolescents as well as additional factors that contribute to the impact of marijuana on the brain. In 2014, Dr. Gruber launched MIND, the first program of its kind designed to clarify the specific effects of medical marijuana use on a number of outcome measures.
