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Marijuana use by seniors goes up as boomers age

Cindiwaa

Cindiwaa

Member
This is a nice article about the baby boomers comming of age and how Cannibis is helping with sleep, aches and pains and just having a little fun during retirement. I don't know if its really on the rise or if its just becomming more and more socially accepted every day. Time for grandma and grandad to come outta the closet.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35517361/?GT1=43001
 
H

Herbasaurus

Member
ICMag Donor
Marijuana use by seniors goes up as boomers age

Marijuana use by seniors goes up as boomers age

<cite class="vcard"> By MATT SEDENSKY, Associated Press Writer Matt Sedensky, Associated Press Writer </cite> <abbr title="2010-02-22T13:08:43-0800" class="timedate">Mon Feb 22, 4:08 pm ET</abbr>
<!-- end .byline --> MIAMI – In her 88 years, Florence Siegel has learned how to relax: A glass of red wine. A crisp copy of The New York Times, if she can wrest it from her husband. Some classical music, preferably Bach. And every night like clockwork, she lifts a pipe to her lips and smokes marijuana.
Long a fixture among young people, use of the country's most popular illicit drug is now growing among the AARP set, 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.
Politically, advocates for legalizing marijuana say the number of older users could represent an important shift in their decades-long push to change the 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 was a freshman at Georgetown, 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 Rockingham, N.C., 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, referring to prescription painkillers. "I am essentially pain free."
But there's also the risk that health problems already faced by older people can be exacerbated by regular marijuana use.
Older users could be at risk for falls if they become dizzy, smoking it increases the risk of heart disease and it 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."
Siegel bucks the trend as someone who was well into her 50s before she tried pot for the first time. She can muster only one frustration with the drug.
"I never learned how to roll a joint," she said. "It's just a big nuisance. It's much easier to fill a pipe."


Source:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100222/ap_on_re_us/us_seniors_marijuana/print
 
Q

qdavid

Member
Gotta tell the truth. I couldn't force myself to plow through those long ass double posted articles other than the first few paragraphs. I will eventually. I find it kind of annoying to wake up and have to read through huge walls of text of arguments answering a bunch of separate quotes and often hardly even addressing the OP's original statement.

I will say this. I have noticed more boomers smoking. I think they/we got tired of fighting Johnny law, quit, raised a family, played all the reindeer games, and now don't give a shit. They/we are responsible , for the most part, for the current acceptance finally of MMJ, Rock on old farts.
 
40AmpstoFreedom

40AmpstoFreedom

Well-known member
ICMag Donor
Veteran
I was in the grow shop the other day in the worst state of the country to grow weed in and low and behold it was all full of seniors...

Blew me away lol.

One lady made her husband who looked to be around 60 put back a 250 watt hps for a 150 because of electricity cost lol (his nutes were definitely for bud)...

Meanwhile I was stacking multiple 1k watt bulbs at the register...I am betting it just made him think of the wonderful outdoor days he may have had hah.

Was great to see.
 
Tilt

Tilt

Member
My buddy smokes out his 92 year old grandma all the time. pre boomer I believe. He is working on his mom(baby boomer with cannibas predjudice) to try it to substitute for her pain meds that affect her appetite
 
EstimatedProph

EstimatedProph

Member
My father is part of the boomer generation and there is no doubt in my mind in regard to this trend. Both my mom and pops smoke while I can name only a few of his friends that don't smoke-- in fact, only one off hand that I know for a fact doesn't msoke.
 
J

jayburtonboy

bump the seniors!!! This reminds me of when Mr. Mackey tried drugs.
 
C

CrossEyedMary

Member
Good article but they should have put more than one doctor's opinion in the article though. I know my father can't wait to retire so he can start smoking again.
 
pearlemae

pearlemae

May your race always be in your favor
Veteran
from one of the old geezers, we've been smokin for 40 or more years. Ya wake up one day and say shit where did the last 30 years go. enjoy it while you can.
 
j6p

j6p

Member
Lots of baby boomers who stopped using mj because of drug testing at work are now retiring, and are toking again. And it's easy to see that many older people are growing as well.
 
Treetops

Treetops

Active member
Proud to be one of those old "geezers"...Baby boomer smokin proud since I was 15....will be 60 in May...Aint stoppin now....:smoweed: till I leave this earth.....Peace
 
H

harryleggs

I'll be 60 in May also. It was all about freedom then....and it's all about freedom now! It's my life and I'll do what ever I damn well please! I've been lurkin' for a couple of months and I'm gonna grow me some GOOD SMOKIN' SHIT now! Thanx boys and girls!!!! Thanx ICMag!!!! IB comin Out!! Oh YA!!
 
fireburner23

fireburner23

Member
That is good, if the use of marijuana increases among Seniors, the biggest voting block of voters, that means many laws could change in favor of Medical Marijuana.
 
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