Marijuana Use Among Baby Boomers Rose Tenfold Over Decade as Seniors Seek Out Pot for Medical Treatment

A University of Colorado study published in Drugs and Aging saw a 10-fold rise in marijuana-using baby boomers over 10 years, as an option for treating maladies ranging from pain to anxiety to depression, reports CNBC . Approximately 3.7 percent of U.S. adults 65 or older used cannabis in the past year, while 9.4 percent of adults 60 to 64 used marijuana in 2017 — up from 1.9 percent a decade earlier. University of Colorado Professor Hillary Lum predicted the number of older American pot users will rise as more states legalize medical and recreational cannabis. Many study participants reported problems accessing medical marijuana, noting a lack of education among physicians when it comes to treating maladies with marijuana. Some participants did not ask their doctors about cannabis due to the stigma. "I think doctors should be a lot more open to learning about it and discussing it," said one participant. Many subjects said they opted to buy cannabis from recreational dispensaries, which are often more expensive, due to a reluctance to ask their doctors for a medical marijuana card, or because they would have to leave their health insurance network to find another provider that would give them a card.