Research finds veterans benefit significantly from marijuana consumption
There are few states left to regulate cannabis use in the US, and the fight for veterans may be what’s missing for those naysayers to rally behind legalization. For several years now, veterans have made it clear that cannabis has become their best ally in combating all that the war caused them in the long run. A new study comes to affirm that, indicating that the vast majority of this population finds consistent relief from pain, sleep, and emotional problems once they begin to include marijuana in their routine.
Researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Texas State University and the University of Illinois at Chicago have come together to further study the relationship between cannabis and veterans. According to the study summary, medical cannabis use among US veterans continues to trend upward as time goes on. Still, “data on cannabis use by older veterans are generally less available.”
With that in mind, the recent research focused on understanding what has actually driven older veterans to enroll in the Illinois Medical Cannabis Patient Program, while analyzing what the health outcomes were once they started their plant-based treatment. The study found that participants had positive results on sleep, pain, and mental health issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) thanks to cannabis use.
“Approximately 62% and 85% of respondents reported no changes in memory and falls, respectively, and only 3% and 1% reported a negative outcome for the conditions in both surveys,” the authors added. This is further evidence that veterans have reaped only great benefits since cannabis legalization began to become a growing movement in the country.