Legalizing medical marijuana has many benefits that we already know about – it gives thousands of patients a better option for the treatment of numerous diseases and ailments, it creates jobs, it has been proven to reduce the rate of opioid prescriptions and overdoses – it saves lives. However, there is much more than we even realized that changes when medical marijuana laws are passed – but thankfully studious researchers are always providing us with data we had not even considered.
Recently, we’ve seen studies that prove that teen use doesn’t increase with marijuana legalization, that your doctor is more worried about your alcohol use or you not wearing a helmet, than they are with your marijuana use – and finally that states with medical marijuana laws have seen an improved quality of life in adults over the age of 50. Surprisingly, the age group that appears to be benefitting the most from medical marijuana laws are the middle aged and retiree aged adults.
A study that analyzed data over the last twenty years – since California first legalized medical marijuana – took a look at adults age 50 and older and how active they are in the workforce – as well as how healthy they would consider themselves to be. The study was conducted by the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health in Baltimore and Temple University in Philadelphia – and after taking a look at data from the entire country, their findings are as follows:
The implementation of medical marijuana laws has increased the number of people over the age of 50 who are able to actively participate in the workforce by an average of 9.4 percent. It also increased the numbers of hours worked per week by those age 50 and older by roughly 4.6 to 4.9 percent. They also reported that more men and women in that age group were likely to report that they had “very good” or “excellent” health when compared to states without medical marijuana access.
We all know that when you feel better, you will work better, you will want to do more. By legalizing medical marijuana, we have opened a door to prolonged quality of life and prolonged days of physical activity – things that are often lost even with the use of prescription painkillers and similar substances. On top of a decrease in multiple prescription drugs, medical marijuana is improving the overall quality of life in our older years – and that’s just one more of the many benefits we’ve seen so far when it comes to legalizing medical cannabis.
