B<\/span>oth the future and present population of Florida is seniors. But if the older citizens of the Sunshine State want to access cannabis in nursing homes or retirement complexes, they\u2019re out of luck thanks to the federal prohibition of cannabis overshadowing the state\u2019s medical marijuana laws.<\/p>\n Nearly 20 percent of Florida\u2019s 21 million residents are aged 65 or older. There are more retirees and people of retirement age in Florida<\/a> than there are children under 18. In twenty years,\u00a0according to population statistics,<\/a>\u00a0the elderly will outnumber children by nearly 2-to-1.<\/p>\n Seniors are a key reason why Florida voted to legalize medical cannabis, though in a manner far more restricted than in the western states<\/a>, in November 2016. Over 70 percent of Floridians approved Amendment 2<\/a>, but an even higher 83 percent of seniors told pollsters that they supported medical cannabis<\/a>, making them a driving force behind the successful legalization effort.<\/p>\n The reasons why are obvious. While the science is still in its infancy, cannabis users have reported success in using the drug to treat chronic pain, arthritis, insomnia, depression, Parkinson\u2019s \u2014 many of the conditions that come along with aging.<\/p>\n But in one of the many cruel twists that are a feature of the War on Drugs, many seniors in Florida cannot access any medical marijuana.<\/p>\n Joy Seligman is a 94-year-old retired nurse with Parkinson\u2019s,\u00a0who lives in an assisted-living \u201ccampus.\u201d As the Herald Tribune reported,<\/a>\u00a0Seligman\u2019s been at the assisted-living facility for three years. Just recently, she was entered into the state\u2019s registry of \u201clegitimate\u201d medical-marijuana patients.<\/p>\n Within weeks of Seligman\u2019s 63-year-old son presenting the staff at her\u00a0Aviva<\/a>\u00a0retirement home with that documentation, the company issued a \u201cnew policy\u201d that bans medical marijuana.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Aviva\u2019s policy banning cannabis cites federal law as well as the company\u2019s own \u201cdrug-free workplace policy.\u201d Here, they cite the same legal grounding used by employers that fire or refuse to hire cannabis patients<\/a> solely for their cannabis use.<\/p>\n In interviews with the newspaper, staff at the assisted-living complex insist that they instituted the ban out of an abundance of caution, citing fears over losing federal Medicaid and Medicare funding from the strict and cannabis-hating<\/a> Trump administration.<\/p>\n As far as anyone can tell, there are no assisting-living facilities in Florida that officially allow cannabis. It could be that some are aware that their wares are using cannabis, which in Florida is a discreet act no more oppressive than popping a pill.\u00a0Cannabis must be vaporized, applied topically, or eaten in Florida \u2014 no smoking is allowed<\/a>.<\/p>\n But the argument that they risk federal funding is a myth. As the newspaper reported, there are assisted-living facilities in Washington state that have crafted policies to allow their residents to legally use cannabis. And \u201caccording to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, none have yet lost financing or been penalized for doing so,\u201d as per the paper.<\/p>\n More irony: Florida\u2019s controls for medical cannabis all but eliminate any so-called \u201cabuses\u201d in the system. A neurologist and Seligman\u2019s primary-care doctor have both signed off on her use of cannabis.<\/p>\n She could go ahead and violate Aviva policy, but she says she has no interest in breaking the law. She and her son are considering a lawsuit, but believe that it would take \u201cten years\u201d and a visit to the state Supreme Court to force the issue. And the 94-year-old Seligman doesn\u2019t have that kind of time.<\/p>\n Aviva did suggest a compromise of sorts. The facility suggested that she try Marinol, the pharmaceutical drug that\u2019s synthetic THC, to soothe her arthritis and Parkinson\u2019s. Marinol lacks many of the other compounds in cannabis,\u00a0including CBD, and is thus many advocates, including NORML<\/a>, do not consider it a viable alternative.<\/p>\n In the meantime, she told the Herald Tribune, she has pharmaceutical options to deal with her chronic pain: She has prescription opiates. This debate will outlive Seligman, but it won\u2019t go away. As the demographics show, it will only intensify.<\/p>\n TELL US,<\/strong> do you think there should be cannabis in nursing homes?<\/p>\n The post Florida Nursing Homes Are Prohibiting Medical Cannabis<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
In senior-laden Florida, cannabis in nursing homes is frequently banned because of federal prohibition, which contradicts the state\u2019s medical marijuana law. Both the future and present population of Florida is seniors. But if the older citizens of the Sunshine State want to access cannabis in nursing homes or retirement complexes,Continue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[50,80,1534,388,90,3491,3492,1806],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24063"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24063"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24063\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24064,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24063\/revisions\/24064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: Florida Nursing Homes Are Prohibiting Medical Cannabis<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"