“Cannabis Helps Dementia” Podcast Launches 2021 Season 

The 2021 Cannabis Helps Dementia podcast season launches with three episodes Friday May 14 with guests from all over the US, Canada and the world! As in the first season, co-creators Chela and Dave Coennen talk with Doctors, Nurses, Researchers and others on the front lines of senior care, as well as people living with dementia, their families and caregivers about how cannabis is helping ease symptoms associated with dementia.  Maybe even you? Drop them a note or leave a voice-message on Anchor.FM/CannabisHelpsDementia if you want to share your story. You can also catch up with last season and listen to the 2021 preview now.

With no effective treatment for Alzheimer’s and related dementias, and no cure in the pipeline, caring for people living with dementia, according to the 2021 Alzheimer’s Association Facts and Figures report, will cost the US $355B in 2021, by 2050 it could rise to $1.1Trillion. President Biden recently called for a visionary health research agency to come up with breakthrough cures and treatments for diseases like Alzhemer’s, diabetes and cancer. Cannabis prohibition and the plant’s status on the Controlled Substances Act most restrictive Schedule I, has effectively stifled meaningful research on this powerful herb for 85 years. Without changing this, gold-standard research continues to languish. Yet, the plant persists and people all over the world are finding benefits from medical cannabis where modern medicine has nothing to offer.

The new season brings a powerful line-up of guests. The first is renowned integrative physician, educator and founder of Healer.com, Dr. Dustin Sulak of Maine. Then an optimistic conversation with prominent cannabinoid researcher at Augusta University in Georgia, Dr. Babak Baban, who has been making news about CBD for COVID treatments, melanoma and restoring normal Azheimer’s proteins in mice. And a panel discussion among Geriatric Specialists in the North Bay Area of California on How Cannabis Eases Anxiety and Depression among Seniors in Assisted Living and at home rounds out the first three episodes.

Throughout 2021 they will be connecting with leaders and luminaries in the medical cannabis field. Coming soon they talk with:

• Dr. Peter Grinspoon, in Massachusetts is an acclaimed second-generation cannabis advocate and Harvard Medical School professor,

• Dr. Bonni Goldstein, in Southern California, best selling author of “Cannabis is Medicine” and leading-edge pediatric cannabis specialist,  whose senior patients are finding relief from symptoms of dementia using medical cannabis.

• Eloise Theisen, RN, Geriatric Nurse Practitioner, President of the American Cannabis Nurses Association with Geriatric Psychiatrist Dr. Phillip Grob as part of the panel on anxiety and depression.

• Dr. Melanie Bone, pioneering medical cannabis program director of MorseLife, Florida’s only licensed “over-65 residential community, with a teaching nursing home, memory care unit, hospice, and rehabilitation facility on site” that allows medical cannabis.

• Dr. Genester Wilson-King, OBGYN, also practicing in Florida. Chela and the doctor do a deep dive on estrogen and THC, how menopausal hormonal imbalances increase risk for dementia and how HRT and cannabis is helping Dr. Wilson-King’s clients.

• The Doctors Knox, from Oregon, will talk about Endocannabioidology and the possibilities of Psilocybin and other botanicals in treating dementia.

• Dr. Blake Pearson from Ontario, Canada, shares how he is successfully treating hundreds of people living with dementia using low dose, medical cannabis, reducing symptoms and polypharmacy.

• Dr. Patricia Frye wrote, “The Medical Marijuana Guide: Cannabis and Your Health” which is now a textbook for one of the few Universities with a Medical Cannabis program at the University of Maryland, School of Pharmacy. They talk with her about the need and urgency of provider education.

• Dr. Ethan Russo, eminent neurologist and researcher to talk about Cannabis and the Future of Neurology.

• And more to be announced.

“My mom was my greatest teacher. We were so surprised that low dose, full spectrum, cannabis oil was by far the best medicine to ease Mom’s behavioral symptoms during her Alzheimer’s journey. And in her final days, a few drops every hour of full-spectrum CBD rubbed into her gums, completely relieved her terrible death rattle. Throughout her journey, cannabis always made her seem light hearted and satisfied with life, we were so lucky to have found it,” said Chela Fiorini-Coennen, co-creator of Cannabis Helps Dementia podcast and AlzNotes.com. “We created the podcast to make it easier for others to have the data and related stories to share with healthcare professionals and decision makers to help get relief to their loved ones and inspire research for effective treatments and maybe a cure!”

Cannabis Helps Dementia podcast will also be talking with care partners and loved ones all over the world, professional carers on the front lines, and people living with dementia to hear how cannabis therapeutics are helping them live a better life.

All starting Friday May 14. Catch up with the 2020 season now wherever podcasts are found, and get ready for new episodes starting soon. Make sure to follow or subscribe, so you know when new episodes drop. #CannabisHelpsDementia.