More and more older adults are using marijuana

More and more older adults are using some form of marijuana, according to new survey data, and their doctors aren’t prepared to talk with them about it.

The percentage of adults over the age of 65 who said they’d used some form of cannabis in the past year was 75 percent higher in 2018 — when 4.2 percent said they’d used it — than it was in 2015, according to new data published in JAMA Internal Medicine. Cannabis use in this group has been increasing dramatically since around 2006 when less than 0.5 percent of older adults said they’d used the drug.

The trend mirrors what study author and geriatrician Benjamin Han says he sees from patients. “Ten years ago, no one asked me about cannabis use ever. Now, it’s a very common question when I’m in the clinic,” says Han, an assistant professor in the division of geriatric medicine and palliative care at the New York University School of Medicine. “I probably get asked about once a week. There’s a lot of interest.”

The study used results from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health and included answers from over 14,000 people. [Read more at The Verge]