Medical marijuana provider hosts information session aimed at informing older people about pot as medicine

Sudbury senior Sarah Walker has never smoked pot in her life, but she thinks marijuana drops might be a good thing to have with her hot chocolate at night.

That's because Walker has trouble sleeping.

About a year ago, she said a friend gave her a pot brownie to try, to see if it would help her sleep.

“I ate half a delicious brownie one night when I told a friend I hadn't been sleeping well, and he said, 'I have something for you.' That was my one and only experience with marijuana, and I was afraid to eat the entire thing, and it didn't have any effect on me whatsoever.”

While she isn't a marijuana user, she said she would like an alternative to the pharmaceuticals prescribed by doctors.

“I was once prescribed two drugs from my physician, and when I got home, I went online to find out what the side effects were going to be on my body, and I brought the prescription back to the drug store,” she said.

That's why she's willing to give medical marijuana a try, if it will help her catch some much-needed sleep.

“I've never smoked, so I can't imagine ever doing it that way,” she said. “I didn't know there were little drops available, and I thought, what a wonderful thing to do in the morning, get up and have it with your coffee, or at night with your hot chocolate.”

Walker stopped by an information exhibition on Nov. 22 at the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 72, organized by the Sudbury branch of Bodystream Medical Marijuana Services.

A 2017 study by the U.S. National Survey on Drug Use and Health found marijuana use in the United States is rising fastest among older people, more than other demographic.

From 2007 to 2017, cannabis use among 50- to 64-year-olds jumped 57.8 per cent, and 250 per cent for those 64 and up. Still, fewer than 10 per cent of seniors are using pot, rising to fewer than two per cent among the oldest demographic.

Betty Lauzon is a medical administrator at Bodystream's location on Falconbridge Highway. She said seniors represent a large and growing part of the company's patient base.

“We put together this exhibition to show seniors what other services are available to them in the community,” Lauzon said. “The issue of pot and medical marijuana is becoming more of a dinner table discussion.

"It's amazing how open seniors are to the idea of medical marijuana, because they've tried so many other pharmaceuticals to help with their conditions or diagnosis. Those meds are just not working for them any more, and they're looking for an alternative without all of the side effects you get from the pharmaceuticals.”

Seniors are always surprised to see just how many strains and types of medical marijuana and at how many ways there are to take it, she said. They can smoke it; they can take it through capsules, through a vaporizer, even topically. They don't have to have the "high" feeling, but can still get rid of their pain, or get a full night's sleep.

Unfortunately, there's still a great deal of stigma attached to the idea of using marijuana, Lauzon said. That's not just limited to the general community, either. In the medical field, there are still many physicians who aren't as knowledgeable on medical marijuana as they should be, but opinions continue to evolve.

“We've come a long way,” Lauzon said.

Physicians refer patients to Bodystream with a prescription based on a current condition or diagnosis, Lauzon said. Patients can be referred by their physician or a specialist, or they can self refer if they have documentation to back up their condition or diagnosis.

“We are a medical clinic, so we carry no product,” Lauzon said.

The marijuana is delivered to the patients' doors and is prescribed to help deal with such conditions as chronic pain, PTSD, anxiety, depression, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's and arthritis, to name a few.

Bodystream has been operating in Sudbury for just over two years, although the company itself is about six years old, with 19 locations across Ontario.

“A great deal of our time is spent on outreach and education,” Lauzon said. “In the beginning, we didn't have very many physicians referring to us, but we've grown through education and building our business model.

“Through the referral system, the physicians are still getting the assessment notes on their patients, so they are kept in the loop. We are specifically a specialist for medical marijuana, but the doctors are still the primary care physicians for their patients, and that gives them a better feeling.

“Unfortunately, there are some doctors who are adamantly against the use of medical marijuana, but all we can do is keep working at it, keep educating and sharing.”