Spokane7
48°
February 23, 2010 in Nation/World
Potheads growing gray hairs
MIAMI – In her 88 years, Florence Siegel has learned how to relax: A glass of red wine. A crisp copy of the New York Times, if she can wrest it from her husband. Some classical music, preferably Bach. And every night like clockwork, she lifts a pipe to her lips and smokes marijuana.
Long a fixture among young people, use of the country’s most popular illicit drug is now growing among the AARP set, as the massive generation of baby boomers who came of age in the 1960s and ’70s grows older.
The number of people 50 and older reporting marijuana use in the prior year went up from 1.9 percent to 2.9 percent from 2002 to 2008, according to surveys from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
The rise was most dramatic among 55- to 59-year-olds, whose reported marijuana use more than tripled from 1.6 percent in 2002 to 5.1 percent.
Observers expect further increases as 78 million boomers born between 1946 and 1964 age. For many boomers, the drug never held the stigma it did for previous generations, and they tried it decades ago.
Some have used it ever since, while others are revisiting the habit in retirement, either for recreation or as a way to cope with the aches and pains of aging.
Siegel walks with a cane and has arthritis in her back and legs. She finds marijuana has helped her sleep better than pills ever did. And she can’t figure out why everyone her age isn’t sharing a joint, too.
“They’re missing a lot of fun and a lot of relief,” she said.
Politically, advocates for legalizing marijuana say the number of older users could represent an important shift in their decades-long push to change the laws.
“For the longest time, our political opponents were older Americans who were not familiar with marijuana and had lived through the ‘Reefer Madness’ mentality and they considered marijuana a very dangerous drug,” said Keith Stroup, the founder and lawyer of NORML, a marijuana advocacy group.
“Now, whether they resume the habit of smoking or whether they simply understand that it’s no big deal and that it shouldn’t be a crime, in large numbers they’re on our side of the issue.”
The drug is credited with relieving many problems of aging: aches and pains, glaucoma, macular degeneration, and so on. Patients in 14 states enjoy medical marijuana laws, but those elsewhere buy or grow the drug illegally to ease their conditions.
Among them is Perry Parks, 67, of Rockingham, N.C., a retired Army pilot who suffered crippling pain from degenerative disc disease and arthritis. He had tried all sorts of drugs, from Vioxx to epidural steroids, but found little success. About two years ago he turned to marijuana, which he first had tried in college, and was amazed how well it worked for the pain.
“I realized I could get by without the narcotics,” Parks said, referring to prescription painkillers. “I am essentially pain free.”
But there’s also the risk that health problems already faced by older people can be exacerbated by regular marijuana use.
Older users could be at risk for falls if they become dizzy, smoking it increases the risk of heart disease and it can cause cognitive impairment, said Dr. William Dale, chief of geriatrics and palliative medicine at the University of Chicago Medical Center.
He said he’d caution against using it even if a patient cites benefits.
“There are other better ways to achieve the same effects,” he said.
Pete Delany, director of applied studies at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, said boomers’ drug use defied stereotypes, but is important to address.
“When you think about people who are 50 and older you don’t generally think of them as using illicit drugs – the occasional Hunter Thompson or the kind of hippie dippie guy that gets a lot of press maybe,” he said. “As a nation, it’s important to us to say, ‘It’s not just young people using drugs; it’s older people using drugs.’ ”
Siegel bucks the trend as someone who was well into her 50s before she tried pot for the first time. She can muster only one frustration with the drug.
“I never learned how to roll a joint,” she said. “It’s just a big nuisance. It’s much easier to fill a pipe.”
© Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Lefty on February 23 at 5:33 a.m.
You go Granny! Tell everybody that weed ain’t not worse than havin’ a drink-Lord have mercy! people are still so uptight about a dang weed and something that people do in the privicy of their own home. One thing positive I can say about this new administration is they a not going to prosecute as aggressivly as the last admin-BUT you have to worry about the local yokals,cops, heat,you know—roll em’ if you got em’
Albert on February 23 at 8:01 a.m.
Oh there you go again Lefty. Otto was beaten to death over a bottle of coke - Pete was shot in the head while running away from a Drunken Blue… why would Granny have anything to fear in our “quiet - union protected” town???
SugarShane on February 23 at 8:28 a.m.
Its time to legalize, or at least update the acceptable uses to come more in line with CA where it can be prescribed for depression anxiety or sleeplessness. Mankind has used this God given herb for around 5000 years until the good ol USA decided that they would tell the world that its illegal, not to protect the public interest as they claim, but to protect private profits like oil, timber, textile, and pharmaceuticals.
“He said he’d caution against using it even if a patient cites benefits.There are other better ways to achieve the same effects,” he said.”
This is a blatant lie! The patients themselves said they had better results from MJ and if this Dr has never tried it or researched the matter he should keep his mouth shut. It all about their nice fat bonuses they receive from drug companies. The REAL drugs come in a prescription bottle, and kill more people per year than ever before.
cowboy on February 23 at 8:43 a.m.
i have been smoking the weed all of my adult life. and now am to getting gray hair.
mikewsu on February 23 at 9:47 a.m.
Should we start locking up Grandma, or might it finally be time to give another look at prohibition?