New York, NY: Self-reported marijuana use by those age 50 and older is increasing, according to demographic data published online ahead of print in the journal Addiction.
Researchers at New York University’s School of Medicine and at Columbia University evaluated marijuana use patterns for those over 50 years of age for the years 2006 to 2013.
Investigators reported that the prevalence of past-year cannabis use rose approximately 60 percent for those age 50 to 64, and increased 250 percent for those over 65 years of age. Overall, use rates increased 71 percent (from 2.8 percent in 2006 to 4.8 percent in 2013) for all of the respondents.
Authors reported that marijuana use was significantly higher among older males than among females (6.8 percent to 3 percent). Those respondents who reported suffering from two or more chronic medical conditions were more likely to use cannabis than those who did not.
“We found a significant increase in the prevalence of past-year cannabis use in the US among older adults from 2006/2007 through 2012/2013, with large relative increases particularly among those ages 65 and older,” they concluded. “This increase in cannabis use is not unanticipated given the high rates of substance use among the Baby Boomer generation. … Given that the majority of Baby Boomers have still not yet reached the age 65, we will likely continue to see the trends continue into the next decade.”
For more information, please contact Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director, at: paul@norml.org. Full text of the study, “Demographic trends among older cannabis users in the United States, 2006-2013,” appears in Addiction.