Dr. John Fryters speaks to a group of people at a seniors and cannabis workshop at the Prince Albert Seniors Advocacy Centre.(Ian Gustafson/paNOW Staff)

By Ian Gustafson

Never too late to learn

Workshop teaches seniors about cannabis

Nov 9, 2019 | 5:25 PM

The Prince Albert Seniors Advocacy Centre held a workshop this week to teach seniors about cannabis.

The event Thursday, was to inform seniors about the advantages and disadvantages of marijuana now that it is legal and with edible products soon expected to reach licenced retail outlets. Aspects for discussion included recreational and medical use, myths vs truth, whether it can be addictive, local treatment options, and the ways it can be consumed.

Dr. John Fryters, Vice President of the Seniors Advocacy Centre, oversaw the information session which focused on recreational and medical use.

“[In the morning] we had kind of a circle and most of them are kind of in the dark because they’re hearing it, [and] many of them are seniors,” he said. “They just want to know more.”

Fryters, who has his doctorate in pharmacology, told paNOW cannabis use can be addictive but that’s not the case for many people and is very low risk.

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He decided to hold the info session because he had many seniors asking him about marijuana.

“The seniors are asking me, you know ‘what about this?’ So that’s why were having this,” he said.

Jennifer Gray, an addictions counsellor from the Métis Addictions Council of Saskatchewan speaks to the group of seniors. (Ian Gustafson/paNOW Staff)

Jennifer Gray, addictions counsellor at the the Métis Addictions Council of Saskatchewan Inc. (MACSI) in Prince Albert, was at the information session speaking about what MACSI offers in terms of cannabis treatments and the effects of medicinal cannabis.

“There are so many factors that can have an effect depending on if you’re taking any other drugs, especially medications too,” Gray said. “Mostly when it comes to cannabis the big thing is seeing your doctor and talking with your doctor before you begin to take medicinal cannabis of any kind. You can take it [by] smoking it and you can take it in gummies.”

She said there are some positive and negative side effects even on the healthiest person.

“A lot of people don’t think it’s addictive, but you can get addicted to it and it can harm your body too,” she added.

Gray said it is also important to see your doctor before using cannabis edibles because how you use marijuana can affect you in different ways

“When you smoke it hits you quick, [but] if you eat it it doesn’t hit you quite as quickly. So there’s been people who have actually overdosed on edibles because they don’t feel the effects right away so they take more thinking it wasn’t strong enough,” she explained.

Gloria Skene was one of the people attending the information session and she said her main take away was it is more dangerous nowadays.

“I just was interested in what new information had come out and I was a little more interested in the medical aspects,” Skene said.

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ian.gustafson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @iangustafson12