Dr. Arthur Caplan, Professor of Bioethics at NYU Langone medical center Interview

Dr. Arthur Caplan speaks with Mendte in the Morning about the rise in cannabis use among the elderly population.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
And right now let's get to doctor Arthur Caplan, professor
of bioethics at New York University Land Gone Medical Center.
Doctor Caplan, thanks for joining us as.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
Always, Hey, thanks for remy Larry.

Speaker 1 (00:12):
Absolutely, let's talk about the elderly and pot, if pot
use among the elderly. I guess we should have expected
this is growing because that generation is growing up.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
I think that's exactly the explanation. It's a bunch of
people who were smoking in token in the sixties and
seventies now getting up to their dotage. I mean that class,
by the way, and they're used to using marijuana. One
other factor, it's legal, right, so we've seen big shifts

(00:48):
in laws New York City, New York State, New Jersey.
You can possess, you can even grow, So you've got
a lot more use in a climate that I think
is accepting if you will.

Speaker 1 (01:05):
Are there any health risks at all?

Speaker 2 (01:08):
There are. There's a couple of things to pay attention
to here. One, the marijuana of today is not the
marijuana of my youth. It is about ten times stronger.
It's bread or grown to really be more potent. It
has more thc. The business end of marijuana that gets

(01:29):
people high. I don't think people understand that it is
far stronger. So if you use it, and let's say,
then do the proverbial don't operate a motor vehicle, you
could be very impaired at the level of being drunk.
If it's very very strong and you take other drugs,
as the elderly do, you can get interactions. It could

(01:50):
be dangerous for you. I think one of the big risks.
Also for the elderly, they're often suffering a little bit
from hearing loss. There may be some physical impairment, let's say,
vision loss and so on, and marijuana can complicate that.
You know what the big biggest danger is for an
older person falls larry falling down, break it, a hip,

(02:14):
break it, you know what I mean. We see that
and I hate to say it, but a fall is
off in the road really the end, because you don't
get better quickly, you get bedbound. A lot of these
people don't have helpers or someone who's strong enough to
help them. The spouse is also elderly. Anyway, you gotta
be very careful. Do not smoke and then run around

(02:37):
or you know, stay out of the bathroom, don't go
to places where slips and falls can happen.

Speaker 1 (02:42):
Yeah, that's great advice. I smoked pot once in college
and hated it, and so I don't smoke at all.
But I have all these friends now that are taking gummies.

Speaker 2 (02:52):
Yeah, you know something, You and I are in the
same camp. I actually never tried it, didn't do much
for me, didn't really care for it. Begun smoking just
by taste. I don't want to say I'm a highly
ethical person just like it, That's right, But I mean
I'm sussing up here. I just didn't like it. I

(03:13):
can't say the same a beer, for example. But uh,
you know, I think you've got situations again as we're saying,
where the uh the elderly or just they may they're
not young anymore. So you got to be much more
careful when you're using something that can impair you. That

(03:34):
really is important to keep in mind.

Speaker 1 (03:37):
So let's talk about this new viral wellness trend. Raw
milk Is that dangerous?

Speaker 2 (03:45):
Oh? I hate this trend. I just hate it. You know,
you guys know the name Lewis Pasteur, famous French scientists
from last century. He's famous because he developed a technique
to pasteurize milk. It's named after him. Why because too
many people were dead from drinking raw milk. You drink

(04:07):
raw milk, you're picking up every infection, every danger that
the cow and the cow herd has. They can transmit bacteria.
I don't want to get too disgusting about this, but
let's just say the cows are out in pastures and
they're not in the cleanest environment. They do get bacteria
and infections, and that can get into the raw milk.

(04:28):
I know it has its proponents. RFKA junior is one
or others, but there's really no big health benefit from
raw milk none, and you're getting risk. So I just
think it's something that really you want to avoid and
please don't give it to children.

Speaker 1 (04:47):
We've been talking about AI a lot this morning and
how afraid we are of it because we think it's
going to take over the world and now AI could
be your therapist. Is that right?

Speaker 2 (05:01):
I hope not yet, but yes, it is a danger.
There are plenty of programs online that are saying, hey,
very cheap, don't have to pay for a psychologist, psychiatrist,
social worker, use this AI program. Well, it's not ready
for prime time. AI can be helpful if you're in
medicine or in mental health, can remind you about a

(05:23):
diagnosis or a drug interaction. It's useful as a tool,
but it cannot yet replace a therapist. It doesn't have
the ability to empathize. It doesn't know how to pick
up subtle human clues. And by the way, it often
spends a lot of it's time the AI program surfing
around on the Internet and picking up information there which

(05:46):
is often inaccurate, false, or just you know, distorted, And
you don't want that to be the basis of your therapy.
So no, don't use AI yet as your therapist. Is
it coming. Yeah, we'll talk about five or six years,
and I think then the programs may be up to snuff.
But not today.

Speaker 1 (06:05):
Oh thank god, something it can't do. Doctor Arthur Caplan,
Professor of Bioethics at New York University len Goo Medical Center,
Thank you so much.

Speaker 2 (06:13):
Doctor Hey, thanks for having me.