Scientific research has ramped up in the area of medicine and disability in recent years, to some rather eye-opening results:
In the study, patients reported mild to moderate improvements including better sleep, diminished pain, and reduced anxiety. Additionally, a third of the study’s participants were able to decrease use of prescription opioids with the replacement of medical marijuana. The study’s senior researcher Dr. Laszlo Mechtler noted, “In the midst of an opioid epidemic in this country with 115 people dying every day, anything that can decrease the potential for opiate use is a win-win situation. Nobody overdoses on medical marijuana.”
The U.S. government’s own patent on cannabinoids states: “Cannabinoids are found to have particular application as neuroprotectants, for example in limiting neurological damage following ischemic insults, such as stroke and trauma, or in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and HIV dementia.”
While scientific evidence continues to support cannabis’s potential benefits for people with disabilities, the law can be a huge roadblock to accessing and utilizing it for many disabled patients. These are a few considerations for disabled individuals to keep in mind:
For many disabled individuals, the benefits to using cannabis as part of their treatment plan outweigh the risks they may encounter in other areas of their life. Research for cannabis’s effectiveness for many diseases that lead to disability is still ongoing, with fascinating new developments being discovered every day.
One common finding among many studies is that although cannabis may not treat the main symptoms of a disability, it improves patient quality of life. Although the disease itself does not get better from using cannabis, a disabled person may be able to cope with daily life more easily when they use cannabis.
To learn more about whether medical marijuana might aid in treating your disability or associated symptoms, make an appointment with Duber Medical today.
Author: Gabrielle Dion Visca
Gabrielle has been writing and editing professionally for the medical and wellness industries for more than 20 years. She’s held positions with The Journal of Pediatrics, Livestrong, The Cincinnati Enquirer, and Patient Pop. She currently writes articles about medical marijuana for Duber Medical, and is the founder of the Ohio cannabis journalism non-profit, MedicateOH.