With its large and growing seniors population, the Sunshine Coast seems ripe to get caught up in a trend sweeping the United States: seniors going to pot.
It really is the latest thing, with a recent New Yorker article describing seniors as “America’s fastest-growing population of new cannabis users.”
When asked last month by the Financial Post to share the lessons learned after four years of cannabis legalization, Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper admitted that “most of the things I feared most, haven’t occurred. We didn’t see a giant spike in teenage consumption. We didn’t see a spike in any consumption. The only place we’ve seen a slow but consistent increase in consumption is among senior citizens.”
Part of it is simply the demographics. Today’s seniors are increasingly boomers, the first generation to adopt a widespread marijuana habit. That explains why a major U.S. government survey found that cannabis use for those 65 and up rose 250 per cent between the years 2006 and 2013, the period during which the oldest boomers became the youngest seniors. Add legalization to the mix and you’ve got a party.
The New Yorker article identified two key groups of seniors who are turning to cannabis: “The first … have never tried marijuana and are drawn to its alleged health benefits. The second are boomers who ‘smoked dope’ in the sixties and seventies, giving it up when they became focused on careers or raising kids.”
I would add a third group that might be more plentiful in the land of Dudley Do-Right – those who never touched weed precisely because it was illegal. Once that obstacle is removed on Oct. 17, some of those straitlaced Canadians will decide to finally learn what all the fuss was about.
Add this group to a fourth category of senior users – old stoners, the pot pioneers who have been indulging, in some cases virtually every day, since Laugh In was on TV and who are quite well represented on the Coast – add that group, and you could have the recipe for a phenomenon.
Of course, many seniors across Canada have already embraced weed for medicinal use. An article on the cannabis site herb.co in February lists 10 reasons seniors are turning to marijuana: Chronic pain. Glaucoma. Alzheimer’s disease. Parkinson’s disease. Cancer. Appetite. Sleep. Crohn’s disease. Depression. Multiple sclerosis. Though still highly controversial, the health benefits of cannabis are the gospel truth to people who have experienced them firsthand. Expect the number of elderly users to keep growing as the glad tidings spread.
To end on a bummer note: while pot might become as common among seniors as Vicks VapoRub, it bears mentioning that there will be a fifth category of older folks – those who will not feel the slightest urge to touch weed, for any reason whatsoever. Some may have had an unpleasant experience and some may have had no experience at all; not having used it in the past, they won’t be tempted to use it now. Those are the seniors who do remember the sixties and the programmed “Summer of Love” sheepfest 51 years ago, and that was enough to put them off grass for life.
I just hope that’s the group driving around in scooters.
