More than a tenth of senior citizens used marijuana within the past day, according to the results of a new federally funded study.
The research also shows that among those who do consume cannabis, many use it to simply get high—but that medical reasons are also common.
Researchers with the University of California San Diego and New York University conducted survey interviews with 315 adults over the age of 65, primarily in public parks or outside of older adults centers in New York City.
Over half of respondents (56 percent) said they have consumed cannabis at least once in their lifetime, 22 percent used it within the past year, 16 percent reported past-month use and 11 percent said they consumed it within the past 24 hours.
The most commonly reported reason for using marijuana was to get high (60 percent), though 56 percent said they consume cannabis to relieve tension, 53 percent use it as a sleep aid, 30 percent utilize it treat chronic pain and 29 percent use marijuana for another medical reason—”reflecting prior evidence that older adults commonly use cannabis to manage these symptoms or medical reasons and suggesting potential unmet clinical needs that physicians should be aware of,” the researchers wrote.
“Cannabis was most often used to get high (60.0%), relieve tension (55.7%), sleep (52.9%), or relieve chronic pain (30.0%).”
The relatively high usage rates in the survey “suggest that cannabis use among older adults may be more common and clinically significant than suggested by prior evidence,” the researchers wrote in the paper, which was funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
They said, however, that the results may be skewed due to New York City’s urban setting and the relatively diverse participant demographic, or because of “possible reduced selection bias due to in-person, community-based recruitment and brief survey administration that improved completion rates.”
Among those who do use marijuana recreationally within the past year, smoking was by far the most common delivery method, at 74 percent. Thirty-six percent consumed cannabis edibles and 16 percent vaped it.
Older people and women were less likely to use marijuana than younger senior citizens and men, respectively, the study concluded.
Another recent study found that medical marijuana helps 91 percent of older adults improve their pain, insomnia and mood or behavioral symptoms, a new study has found.
A separate recent federally funded study published by the American Medical Association (AMA) found that “older adults are increasingly turning to cannabis for symptom management”—with many motivated to try marijuana “as an alternative to traditional pharmaceuticals due to concerns about adverse effects.”
“As cannabis legalization becomes more widespread, older adults are increasingly turning to it not just for recreational use, but to manage symptoms associated with aging, including pain, sleep disturbances, and mental health concerns,” that research found.
AMA separately adopted a resolution this year that recognizes both the risks and potential therapeutic benefits of marijuana use among older adults.
Photo courtesy of Max Pixel.
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