Seniors choose cannabis over opioids for pain



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Seattle – 80-year-old Connie Schick uses a cannabis cream for chronic pain after a stroke. Schick says it's better than using an opioid pain reliever, which makes her stomach ache and can be addictive. She said that even her children think it's a good idea.

"Frankly, I do what I want to do anyway," she smiles. "I do not care about the reaction."

The cream that she uses contains cannabidiol – or CBD – a non-psychoactive molecule of cannabis. CBD does not make you "high" like THC, which is also found in cannabis.

Kelly Ogilvie, CEO of Seattle-based DeepCell Industries, studies and develops cannabis technology. Ogilvie said that he only needed to watch his sister, Sasha, to know that the CBD is a lifesaver. Sasha's epilepsy caused seizures. She fell, dislocated her shoulder and injured her knees.

Sasha's is taking opioid analgesics. Her life began to spiral out of control until she tried the CBD sugar. She not only managed her pain, she said that she reduced her evening dose of epilepsy in half. She has been free of crisis since 2008.

"I can not believe it works better than what the doctors had prescribed," Sasha marveled.

Dr. Nephi Stella at the University of Washington's School of Medicine has been studying cannabis for 25 years. He said the researchers are convinced that CBD can reduce seizures and help fight glioblastomas and "firmly believes" that CBD fights pain, anxiety, PTSD and some cancers.

And, he added, grandma can not overdose cannabidiol.

In June, the Food and Drug Administration approved the use of a CBD drug to treat severe epilepsy. Ogilvie believes that it's only the beginning of affordable, non-addictive therapies for a host of diseases.

evidence of the effect it may have, "said Ogilvie." So it's personal to me. "

* Journalist's Note: Epidiolex was approved end of June 2018 by the Food and Drug Administration to treat the seizures caused by Dravet syndrome and Lennox-Gastaut syndrome

© 2018 KING

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