Senior Citizens and Cannabis

By Drew Jameson

Senior citizens have become the new market for medical marijuana.

Sue Taylor was once a high school principle who fought hard to warn students about the dangers of marijuana. Now, she’s one of a growing number of senior citizens who are turning to cannabis use in their old age.

It all happened after Sue’s son got into California’s bustling medical cannabis industry. Through her son, she started to learn more about cannabis, and it made her change her mind entirely.

Now, the 68-year-old isn’t just a convert, she’s an advocate for aging Americans using cannabis.

Since Sue began speaking up at community meetings, she’s earned the nickname, “The Weed Lady.”

At those meetings with her friends and neighbors, Sue explains the medicinal benefits and possibilities of a healthy cannabis regiment. She wants people around her to know how good cannabis can be for them.

And Sue is on the right side of history. More and more Americans age 55 and up are using cannabis, according to recent polls. It’s a massive cultural shift within a generation that previously preached the dangers of drugs. Now, senior citizens are advocating for the medical benefits of treating the symptoms of aging, especially aches and pains, with cannabis.

Medical cannabis — and Sue prefers to take her Gummy Care edibles — helps with one thing that affects virtually every senior: arthritis.

“Number one is arthritis,” Sue said. “There are tinctures and rubs that you could actually put on your legs, on your knees, across your back, wherever you’re having any arthritic pain. Most senior citizens use the cannabis for pain and to sleep.”

Dr. Igor Grant, a distinguished professor and chair of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego, points out another benefit to shifting senior citizens over to cannabis treatments for managing pain.

Remember, Americans over-65 only account for 14 percent of the nation’s population. But that 14 percent uses more than 30 percent of all prescription drugs. And some of the most common drugs senior citizens use are highly-addictive painkillers.



Prescribing cannabis, instead of something like Vicodin and other opioid painkillers, could have a tremendous impact on the health of senior citizens.

For now, the challenge of spreading cannabis culture among senior citizens has to do with education and overcoming old negative stereotypes.