As Kentucky prepares for its launch of legalized medical marijuana, work is already underway inside the University of Kentucky鈥檚 Sander-Brown Center on Aging, where doctors and researchers are working to gauge the benefit of marijuana on advanced stages of dementia with agitation. Six months into their clinical trial, they鈥檙e seeing promising data.
鈥淭he results are actually astounding. The degree of comfort, the lessened need for use of other medications that may have harmful side effects,鈥 said Greg Jicha, MD, PhD, professor of neurology.
Dr. Jicha and his team, however, need more people to participate in the trial. Not enough Kentuckians have volunteered at this point, but with the new legislation set to take effect on January 1, 2025, he鈥檚 hoping more people will feel comfortable doing so.
鈥淲e need dozens and dozens of Kentuckians, if not hundreds, to stand up and say, 'yes, this is a problem, and we could use that help, and we would like to change the world,鈥欌 he stated in what essentially amounted to a plea to those who have advanced stage Dementia, or to those caring for them.
When Kentucky鈥檚 General Assembly voted to legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes, its members included a long list of medical conditions for which a doctor could prescribe marijuana. Alzheimer鈥檚 and dementia weren鈥檛 included.
鈥淗opefully, what this study is going to accomplish is really bring to the forefront nationally the fact that this is an appropriate indication and use. And in the future, we may get Kentucky to broaden the bill,鈥 Dr. Jicha said before adding that the clinical trial phase is critical to the process of advancing medicine.
He made certain to explain that the use of medical marijuana on patients with advanced levels of dementia won鈥檛 reverse the disease, nor will it stop its progression. The idea is to simply make life better and more comfortable for the patient and those charged with caring for them.
鈥淚f we can do one thing as a doctor, whether or not we can cure diseases, we do know that we can always provide comfort,鈥 he said. 鈥淪omeday maybe we'll cure Alzheimer鈥檚, but for now, we need to slow it at the early stages and provide peace and comfort as the disease progresses,鈥 he continued.
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