Seniors wrap their minds around cannabis — with help from a pharmacist

A Fredericton pharmacist spent his Thursday afternoon teaching about 80 seniors about cannabis.

Paul Bowman, pharmacist and owner of Bowman's Pharmacy, was asked to give a talk for the Third Age Centre, a non-profit organization at St. Thomas University that aims to "empower adults to maintain healthy, independent, active lifestyles."

"I think it's important for people who are using it medicinally that they have a health care professional on their side overseeing their total care," Bowman said, "and I don't think you get that when you go to Cannabis NB to pick up your product."

The talk on cannabis was one of the best attended talks put on by the Third Age Centre.

Jane Asher, a member of the board for the centre, said the board thought it was time for a discussion about cannabis.

"It's legalized and seniors experience different medical issues," she said. "Many people are looking for alternative remedies."

Asher said she's not looking for alternative remedies, but she was interested in learning about how medicinal cannabis may aid certain mental illnesses.

Steven Johnston said he attended the talk because he was interested in learning about the effects of medicinal cannabis on arthritis pain and as an aid for sleep.

"A lot of people my age aren't into it or may never have tried it or may be a little scared to try it," said Johnston, who uses cannabis oil as a sleep aid.

Cannabis not a 'cure-all'

Bowman said it's important for people to understand how cannabis interacts with other medications.

"Normally, people [who] are using medical cannabis, they've tried lots of other things or they're on lots of other medications. This is never normally the first thing they try."

Bowman said for people on blood thinners, cannabis can increase the rate of bleeding.

For people on antibiotics or antifungals, mixing the two can boost the levels of cannabis in your system.

Bowman also said that people who are on strong painkillers need to be careful, as some painkillers can cause drowsiness, and cannabis can increase that effect.

Bowman said there are a few instances where cannabis use has been proven beneficial, including chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting, epilepsy in children and multiple sclerosis.

But he thinks there needs to be more research before pharmacists can say with confidence that cannabis can be used to treat other conditions.

"People think it's going to be the cure-all for everything — it can help with sleep and it can help with anxiety and it can help with pain — and as I said the research to date isn't necessarily validating that.

"This was a novel product. It wasn't something that pharmacists learned about or I learned about going through school because at the time it was an illegal substance."

Still, patients are turning to pharmacists for help.

"I think pharmacists should educate themselves as much as they can because patients are asking these questions." Bowman said.