Pot use among seniors goes up as boomers age

Discussion in 'Marijuana News' started by Armory, Mar 26, 2013.

  1. Senior tokers turn to pot as they age - Health - Aging | NBC News


    MIAMI, Florida - In her 88 years, Florence Siegel has learned how to relax: A glass of wine. A copy of The New York Times, if she can wrest it from her husband. Some classical music, preferably Bach. And every night, she lifts a pipe to her lips and smokes marijuana.
    The use of the U.S.'s most popular illicit drug is growing among retirees as the massive generation of baby boomers who came of age in the 1960s and '70s grows older.
    The number of people aged 50 and older reporting marijuana use in the prior year went up from 1.9 percent to 2.9 percent from 2002 to 2008, according to surveys from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
    The rise was most dramatic among 55- to 59-year-olds, whose reported marijuana use more than tripled from 1.6 percent in 2002 to 5.1 percent.
    Observers expect further increases as 78 million boomers born between 1945 and 1964 age. For many boomers, the drug never held the stigma it did for previous generations, and they tried it decades ago.
    Some have used it ever since, while others are revisiting the habit in retirement, either for recreation or as a way to cope with the aches and pains of aging.
    Siegel walks with a cane and has arthritis in her back and legs. She finds marijuana has helped her sleep better than pills ever did. And she can't figure out why everyone her age isn't sharing a joint, too.

    "They're missing a lot of fun and a lot of relief," she said.
    Relieves problems of aging
    Politically, advocates for legalizing marijuana say the number of older users could represent an important shift in their decades-long push to change U.S. laws.
    "For the longest time, our political opponents were older Americans who were not familiar with marijuana and had lived through the 'Reefer Madness' mentality and they considered marijuana a very dangerous drug," said Keith Stroup, the founder and lawyer of NORML, a marijuana advocacy group.
    "Now, whether they resume the habit of smoking or whether they simply understand that it's no big deal and that it shouldn't be a crime, in large numbers they're on our side of the issue."

    Each night, 66-year-old Stroup says he sits down to the evening news, pours himself a glass of wine and rolls a joint. He's used the drug since he first went to university, but many older adults are revisiting marijuana after years away.
    "The kids are grown, they're out of school, you've got time on your hands and frankly it's a time when you can really enjoy marijuana," Stroup said. "Food tastes better, music sounds better, sex is more enjoyable."
    The drug is credited with relieving many problems of aging: aches and pains, glaucoma, macular degeneration, and so on. Patients in 14 states enjoy medical marijuana laws, but those elsewhere buy or grow the drug illegally to ease their conditions.
    Among them is Perry Parks, 67, of North Carolina, a retired Army pilot who suffered crippling pain from degenerative disc disease and arthritis. He had tried all sorts of drugs, from Vioxx to epidural steroids, but found little success. About two years ago he turned to marijuana, which he first had tried in college, and was amazed how well it worked for the pain.
    "I realized I could get by without the narcotics," Parks said. "I am essentially pain free."

    But older users could be at risk for falls if they become dizzy, and smoking marijuana increases the risk of heart disease and can cause cognitive impairment, said Dr. William Dale, chief of geriatrics and palliative medicine at the University of Chicago Medical Center.

    He said he'd caution against using it even if a patient cites benefits.
    "There are other better ways to achieve the same effects," he said.Pete Delany, director of applied studies at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, said boomers' drug use defied stereotypes, but is important to address.
    "When you think about people who are 50 and older you don't generally think of them as using illicit drugs - the occasional Hunter Thompson or the kind of hippie dippie guy that gets a lot of press maybe," he said. "As a nation, it's important to us to say, 'It's not just young people using drugs it's older people using drugs.'"
    In conversations, older marijuana users often say they smoke in less social settings than when they were younger, frequently preferring to enjoy the drug privately. They say the quality (and price) of the drug has increased substantially since their youth and they aren't as paranoid about using it.

    Dennis Day, a 61-year-old attorney in Columbus, Ohio, said when he used to get high, he wore dark glasses to disguise his red eyes, feared talking to people on the street and worried about encountering police. With age, he says, any drawbacks to the drug have disappeared.
    "My eyes no longer turn red, I no longer get the munchies," Day said. "The primary drawbacks to me now are legal."
     
  2. I introduced my father to some serious dank when he was 55. He was still smoking a bunch of schwags and mids that he was overpaying for. Now all he will touch are dank nugs lol. He likes it a lot better because 3-4 hits is plenty for him.
     
  3. If you were 21 at Woodstock, then you are 65 today. The times they are a changin'. Time to legalize today, not tomorrow.
     
  4. Maybe the elders are tired of all the drugs that get prescribed to them and decided to go natural.
     
  5. This is an awesome topic lol. I'm softly nudging it on the elders in my life, more educating, because in this day with the marijuana movement it's ignorance. See when most people including my mom lol hear "medical marijuana" they think "oh okay, for a cancer patient or something". But what they don't realize is it has hundreds of daily medical values that EVERYONE can benefit from. People need to be educated on the subject, and also that is one of the main things keeping it broadly illegal, ignorance. I could go on for days lol this is what I love talking about. But anyway man, great thread and write up, love reading about this. Actually here's a great story about the MMJ movement in Florida (nor confirming not denying that I'm from Florida) lol. If you get a min it's a great story. http://www.heraldtribune.com/articl...e=Parrish-couple-lobby-for-medical-marijuana-
     
  6. I'm hoping if my mom will use cannabis in the next 5-10 years as she gets older. I know she could use it.
     
  7. Isn't the elderly population the ones that have been most against marijuana? This is great news that the tides are shifting! I mean it means it is time for social security to run out but still! Marijuana will be legalized sooner rather than later! (unless the feds have it their way)
     
  8. Well if you think about it, the elderlies have the best potential lol. They grew up in a different time where it was not as much as a cracked down on thing. So they weren't raised to "weed is bad!! Stay away" which is pretty much how the last gen or two have been raised.
     

  9. You must be extremely young. Reefer Madness was produced in 1936.
     
  10. Everyone's starting to see how awesome weed is that's why.
     
  11. Yes I am lol, I'm 18. But as activist as you can get. Today at 2:30 they are holding a meeting for the Florida state house of reps, regarding bill
    HB-1139. This should be a deciding factor on weather or not the MMJ bill moves forward! Lets cross our fingers!
     

  12. You are so right, and we had Nixon with the beginning of the war on drugs.

    Good article until that doctor chimed in.
     
  13. Haha wow I completely forgot about Nixon's campaign. He actually came out once and said that he had researchers test and conclude that marijuana was the most dangerous and harmful drug lol. Many see him as a hero for what he did in the house and I guess the improvements he made with his campaign. But his attack on drugs was ridiculous.
     
  14. Oh my goodness, he is on the pot again. :smoking:
     
  15. Lmaoooo sorry I am young. I was recalling the wrong president, it was Ronald Reagan. Yes that is most defiantly the pot haha.
     

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