Aging baby boomers becoming new face of cannabis

This article first appeared in the Worcester Telegram & Gazette.

By Susan Spencer 
Telegram & Gazette Staff 

Seventy-two-year-old Nancy Young shakes almost incessantly, a cruel symptom of the Parkinson’s disease she’s borne for decades. The Otego, New York, resident, who lives much of the time in Sutton with her daughter, Michelle Edelstein, Sutton Senior Center director, has taken prescribed opioids OxyContin and Percocet for nearly 30 years. She said it “just barely covers the pain” of her condition.

Around Christmastime last year, Ms. Young decided, on the recommendation of people she met in the supermarket and eventually, her doctor, to try marijuana to ease her symptoms.

She didn’t roll a joint or buy a bong. Instead, she went with her daughter to a Canna Care Docs clinic in Worcester to receive a medical marijuana certification, registered with the state and purchased some edible marijuana products at the Curaleaf dispensary in Oxford.

“I was looking for a way to walk and keep my feet under me, and to stop this infernal shaking,” Ms. Young said in an interview at the Sutton Senior Center.

It took a bit of experimenting to find the right way to consume cannabis. First she tried a cannabis-infused chocolate bar.

“I’m a chocaholic and I took the whole thing,” she said. “My head was going like nobody’s business.”

Ms. Young learned the hard way about “start low, go slow” with marijuana edibles. And she found a different medium she much prefers: a tincture she drops under her tongue when the tremors get bad, especially in the evening.

“It makes me relax, which in turn slows the shaking down and I can grab some sleep,” she said.

“I’m grateful to see her not take those opioids so much,” Ms. Edelstein said. Noting her mother’s reduced pain and relief from other pharmaceutical side effects, she said, “I have to say, I’m kind of an advocate for it.”

Ms. Young is one of the fastest-growing group of marijuana consumers: older adults.

A recently released study out of New York University, supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, looked at data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, an annual survey of 70,000 Americans of all ages.

Researchers found that in the 2015-2016 survey, 9% of adults ages 50 to 64, and 2.9% of those 65 or older, reported using marijuana in the past year.

That prevalence is a 27% increase for 50- to 64-year-olds, and a 107% increase – essentially doubling – for those 65 or older since the 2012-2013 survey. Compared with the 2006-2007 survey, the increases are 100% for 50- to 64-year-olds and 625% for 65 or older.

A Massachusetts survey by the state Department of Public Health, conducted in late 2017, before recreational marijuana stores were open, found that 18.7% of people in their 50s, or nearly one in five residents in that age group; 14.1% of people in their 60s; and 3.4% of residents age 70 or older reported using marijuana in the past month.

“Grandma is certainly the new face of cannabis,” said Stephanie Gluchacki, president of clinical operations for Canna Care Docs, which has 11 medical offices in Massachusetts.

She said about 24%, nearly one out of four, of their patients are ages 60 to 74, and another 10% are over 75.

“It’s definitely not the demographic one would anticipate to see,” she said.

Ann Brum, spokeswoman for MedWell Health & Wellness, another clinical group that certifies patients with qualifying conditions for medical marijuana eligibility, said baby boomers, roughly ages 55 to 73, and older patients are a growing and important part of the marijuana market.

She highlighted a market trend report by BDS Analytics, which found that two out of three baby-boomer consumers use cannabis for medical or health reasons, often to replace prescription medication.

“They’ve just had it with polypharma, med after med,” Ms. Brum said.

Another recent survey by researchers at Worcester-based Cannabis Community Care and Research Network and the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth reported that medical marijuana consumers ages 50 or older primarily use cannabis to treat chronic pain, anxiety, depression, insomnia and arthritis.

Approximately one in five survey respondents reported that cannabis helped them reduce use of opioids. Nearly a third reduced their use of other medications.

Medical marijuana clinicians and dispensaries are targeting their outreach to tap into this growing demographic.

MedWell, which has brick-and-mortar offices elsewhere in the state, offers local pop-up medical cannabis evaluation and certification clinics, such as one scheduled for Aug. 11 at the Hilton Garden Inn in Worcester.

MedWell clinicians also go into assisted living and retirement communities, or will conduct home visits to evaluate and educate patients on medical cannabis, according to Ms. Brum.

Canna Care Docs offers lunch and learn sessions at senior centers. A nurse practitioner discusses legal and health-related aspects of cannabis, but evaluations and certifications aren’t conducted as part of the seminars.

Medical marijuana dispensaries are invited to participate in these educational sessions as well.

“These Q&As allow for open conversation without judgment,” Ms. Gluchacki said.

There are several common themes among seniors, according to Ms. Gluchacki. They’re seeking relief from chronic pain, especially arthritis; they’re looking to cannabis as a sleep aid; and they’re interested in cannabis’ role in curbing Alzheimer’s symptoms, for which there is some, but not rigorously tested, association, according to the Alzheimer’s Association.

Seniors are also cost-conscious and look to cannabis as a cheaper alternative to prescription medication, she said.

Several in the marijuana industry said seniors were less likely to rely on the internet for information, preferring to have printed material to share with family and friends, and to rely on word-of-mouth.

Ms. Edelstein arranged for a lunch and learn with Canna Care Docs and Curaleaf in May.

Worried at first about what the town would think, she said, “I ran this program with a nervous stomach. And it was amazing.”

Several seniors pursued medical marijuana after that presentation, but most were still reluctant to talk publicly about their use.

“There’s a stigma that goes with it, and that’s a shame,” Ms. Edelstein said. “If it can help somebody, I say, shout it from the rooftops.”

Northbridge Senior Center has scheduled a cannabis information session with Canna Care Docs for Sept. 4.

Read the full article on Worcester Telegram & Gazette.