The mature stoner: why are so many seniors smoking weed?

DeepseekerADS

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https://www.theguardian.com/society...e-stoner-why-are-so-many-seniors-smoking-weed

Older people are the fastest-growing group of cannabis users, as stigma fades and some seek an alternative to prescription drugs

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The generation that camped out at Woodstock is now in its seventies.ā€™ Illustration: George Wylesol for the Guardian

As attitudes towards cannabis shift, the fastest-growing group of users is over 50 ā€“ and marijuanaā€™s popularity among seniors is beginning to change the American experience of old age.

Why are more seniors getting high? It might make more sense to ask: ā€œWhy not?ā€ As adults reach retirement, they age out of drug tests and have far more time on their hands. Some feel liberated to abandon long-held proprieties.

Elegant vape pens and other attractive, discreet products have helped de stigmatize the drug among older Americans. ā€œLegalization seems to make non-users seem a little less scared of it, and perhaps less judgmental,ā€ says Jo, a 56-year-old cannabis user who preferred not to use her real name.

The seniors using cannabis today arenā€™t your parentsā€™ grandparents. The generation that camped out at Woodstock is now in its seventies. Theyā€™ve been around grass long enough to realize itā€™s not going to kill them, and are more open to the possibility it will come with health benefits. (By contrast, in a survey of one, my 100-year-old grandmother recently said she had no interest in medical marijuana.)

Seniorsā€™ affinity for weed is beginning to ripple across the US healthcare system. A 2016 study found that in states with access to medical marijuana, those using Medicare part D ā€“ a benefit primarily for seniors ā€“ received fewer prescriptions for other drugs to treat depression, anxiety, pain, and other chronic issues.

For the most part, scientific research has not confirmed marijuana as an effective treatment for these conditions. But proven or not, a number of seniors evidently prefer it to the medications they would otherwise be taking. A study published last year in in the Journal of the American Medical Association found opioid prescriptions for Medicare part D recipients dropped 14% after a state legalized medical marijuana ā€“ a hopeful sign amid the opioids crisis.

While some doctors have expressed concerns about seniors self-medicating with weed, virtually everyone agrees the public health consequences of opioids are far worse. And the most serious health concerns associated with marijuana, such as impaired brain development, tend to affect younger people.

For the industry, seniorsā€™ newfound interest in cannabis is a business opportunity. The Colorado edibles company Wana Brands, among many others, sells cannabis products reminiscent of medicines familiar to seniors. Wana sells extended release capsules as well as products with different ratios of THC and CBD, which intoxicate users to different degrees and can have a variety of effects on ailments.

For someone who hasnā€™t seen a joint in 40 years, the modern dispensary can be a dizzying experience replete with dozens of products ā€“ topicals (lotions), tinctures, sprays ā€“ all promising to help you feel better, but also to get you stoned. Whether or not marijuana helps seniors to alleviate their conditions, many may enjoy a sense of control over their own wellbeing. Meanwhile, dispensaries in California and elsewhere cater to older clientele with discounts and shuttle busses. Dispensary owners like to brag about how many older women come in as evidence that theyā€™re created an attractive and welcoming store.

It hasnā€™t escaped the pharmaceutical industry that marijuana could soon be seen as a viable replacement for many of its products. Perhaps someday soon it will be normal for seniors to pass their last decades in a cannabis-induced haze.
 

uglymailman

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I guess I'll have to wait for the Fed.'s to make it legal. When you go to purchase weed in some states you have to "sign up" and that gets you on a list. When you go to buy a gun, one of the questions is if you use drugs. I don't want the Fed.'s to come take my guns. I don't worry they will come and take my guns, I'm not near a gun nut but if you give them a legal reason they might.
A couple of years ago I had a part time live in boy friend staying with one of my customers. He was a vet who did contract security work in the Middle East. After a couple of years of that he went to Colorado. He was getting weed magazines. I told him his was the first weed mag. I'd seen since High Times like 20 years ago. He told me to take a look at the next one and I did flip through the pages between houses. It was mostly for buying equipment. Make no mistake, weed is a BIG business. I asked him if he was guarding the pot shops or the warehouses where they kept their cash. He said both. They were going to start a Credit Union. The weed people have boat loads of cash and no where to put it. Banks won't touch it, afraid the F.D.I.C. will throw them out.
I do think some of the CDB oils is a GREAT thing. That one little girl back east (N.J.?) who was having constant seizures, had taken every drug to stop it the Doctors knew of and nothing helped. They were going to induce a coma so the girl could rest. One dose of that oil stopped them.
my state, MO. has made med. pot legal. The state is going through the process of permitting growers and dispensary's.It will be more than a yr. before it's available. I will say I worry more about someone that's been drinking behind a wheel that some stoner. Good luck.
 

Hillbilly Prince

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What no one pointed out in Missouri was that if you use medical weed and have a gun, you are committing a felony.
Medical is about getting the foot in the door for recreational.
Legal or not, you would have to be an idiot to hire someone who uses weed. One accident and you will get sued into poverty.
The brain continues to develop into the early twenties.
Not sure it is a good idea to encourage young people to use weed.
I guess it is maybe irrelevant what senior citizens do as long as they stay off the road when drunk or stoned.
 

Kray Gelder

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I have to weigh in on this one as a 65 year old. First of all, someone else should not be able to tell me if I can or cannot smoke weed. It should be legal. Just because you JUDGE it a bad thing, I don't really give a rip. Speaking for myself, I can't buy it here legally, and I don't currently know who to get it illegally and safely from. If I did, I would. I have several chronic medical conditions from working strenuously my entire life that puts me in a low grade level of pain continuously, severe pain frequently. Until you have personally been in this situation, and then been relieved by smoking a little weed, you have no grounds to decide yea or nay for me. So what if your mood is elevated? Is there something WRONG with that?

Is it better to destroy one's liver and stomach with ibuprofin, which, by the way is inferior as a pain reliever? Oxy is a wonder pain reliever, but is HIGHLY addictive, makes your bowels stop working, can kill you, and loses it's effectiveness over time. I have been prescribed it long term in the past and it's a bad thing.

More seniors should smoke weed if they can get it. I wholeheartedly recommend it. I wish I had some right now.
 

Terry Soloman

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Back to the original question. Why are so many seniors smoking weed? The answer is quite simple. The stoners of the ā€˜60s are now seniors. With laws quickly changing, they are more open and honest about being lifelong stoners.

Time for more coffee.

DING-DING-DING-DING!!!! We have a Winner!:headbang::hello2::icon_thumright:
 

Terry Soloman

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I started smoking pot when I was 13. I was never attracted to other drugs, well, except for LSD (acid) - I LOVED taking trips without leaving the farm! My father was an alcoholic, and I never wanted to go that route. With pot, there are no bar fights or throwing up. No hangovers or liver disease. You never hear about the guy that smoked a joint and killed three people in a car crash on the way home.

Besides, look at me - No ill effects here! :laughing7:
 

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Tpmetal

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A stoned populace is easily controlled by the govt

Yeah no, just flat out wrong. Just because someone smokes pot doesn't mean they are mindless morons now incapable of thinking for themselves or standing up for themselves. Some of the most intelligent active people in society smoke. Funny thing, the brain is a muscle. If you don't use it you lose it just like the rest of your body. So yes if you smoke and stare at a wall all day you may lose intelligence. but here is the thing, if you don't smoke and stare at a wall all day, the effects are the same. Now if you were to go with an addiction to say opiates then yes, an addicted population is very easily controlled.
 

nomad 11

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I started smoking pot when I was 13. I was never attracted to other drugs, well, except for LSD (acid) - I LOVED taking trips without leaving the farm! My father was an alcoholic, and I never wanted to go that route. With pot, there are no bar fights or throwing up. No hangovers or liver disease. You never hear about the guy that smoked a joint and killed three people in a car crash on the way home.

Besides, look at me - No ill effects here! :laughing7:

nuthin like planning for the future though ?.......................
 

ARC

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personally I worry about drunk drivers and stoned drivers.

Should have been worried about those "stoned drivers" for the past 60 years... because that is how long you have driving beside them.

Along with the drunk ones... But of course I am sure you noticed the drunk ones... as well as everyone else... due to the accidents.

But I bet ya didn't notice the stoned ones all these years or hear about them... due to the fact you DID NOT hear about any accidents.

Drinking and driving is illegal due to the carnage it has created in its wake.

The same cannot and will not be said against marijuana.

So to lump them together is short sighted IMO.

In other words...

Why would you worry now about either any more than you did ?
 

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