Graying Cannabis Users

It may surprise you to learn that most medical marijuana users are your parents’ and grandparents’ ages. The average age of a Hawaii medical marijuana card holder is 51 years old. That’s a lot younger than the “twenty somethings” that conservative voices in Hawaii’s community (e.g., HPD, District Attorney’s office, etc.) feared would be accessing Hawaii’s new medical marijuana dispensaries. Fears of young people abusing the system have not played out and in fact quite the opposite is true and the patient demographics paint a very gray picture indeed!

The largest group of patients in Hawaii is the 56-65 age demographic. And while that group may be the largest group it is not the fastest growing group. Who’s the fastest growing then? That would be the 76 years old and older group which has grown nearly 100%! It’s truly remarkable that our kupuna are leading the way and nobody thought they’d be the fastest growing group in Hawaii. So why are our seniors becoming so interested in medical marijuana?

The reason medical marijuana is catching on with older patients in Hawaii is because it 1) often works when pharmaceuticals have failed and 2) the side-effects of pharmaceuticals, not to mention their costs, can be unbearable for some patients. Another factor that’s helping to change attitudes with our greying community members is the fact that medical marijuana is losing it’s stigma. More than half of all mainland states have medical marijuana programs and CBD has gained national attention and seems to be everywhere now. This awareness is certainly increasing and we at CertiCann support our kupuna in their journey towards better health.