The Pot Boom

"[There are 65-year-olds who smoked marijuana in college and universities in the '60s and '70s] who became grown-ups with jobs and families [and stopped using cannabis and may now feel somewhat nostalgic for the herb]."
"If they never tried it in college and they don't know the creeper effect ... they end up taking more, and that's when they get into trouble."
"[Nine out of ten people over 50 using cannabis reported to a study having] no emotional or functional problems [with the use of weed]."
Dr. Brian Kaskie, professor of health policy, University of Iowa

Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Now that marijuana has assumed an aspect of respectability for a drug that is recognized as an aid to improving impaired health conditions, many older people are increasingly turning to pot to manage their chronic pain condition, neuromuscular diseases like Parkinson's and multiple sclerosis, glaucoma, along with other age-related health conditions. It seems clear enough that not many elderly people are driven suddenly to marijuana use for the fun of it, according to Dr. Kaskie.

He and colleagues published a study last year focusing on the increased use of marijuana among older Americans, to discover that most people past fifty years of age using cannabis are healthy Caucasians. Men, they found, are likelier than women to use cannabis but overall most users turned to pot less frequently than once in every ten days. A quarter of those studied used the herb fewer than five times during the past year.

According to experts, those new to marijuana use would find benefit in searching out facts about its use. To that end, Dr. Benedikt Fischer, a senior scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health headed an expert panel recently for the purpose of developing useful advice to act as practical guidelines respecting the recreational use of pot, in the hopes of minimizing the occurrence risks of harm.

About 4.9 million Canadians consumed cannabis in 2015, according to a new research study released by Statistics Canada. (Justin Tang/Canadian Press)

Emphasized is that marijuana users should select carefully, to obtain products with low THC content; not smoke pot (the most fraught use); avoid "deep inhalation" leading to an increase of toxic material intake to the lungs; avoid marijuana altogether, under age 16, pregnant or at risk for mental health problems; not drive (or operate any machinery) for six hours at least after using; and use occasionally, preferably on weekends, or one day a week at the very most.

Colorado, Washington, Aslaska, Oregon and Washington, D.C. -- states which have relaxed their laws respecting marijuana use, have realized few changes in cannabis use among twelve- to seventeen-year-olds after legalization. Pot use among teens has actually dropped to its lowest level in a decade, in Colorado. It is the older generations, parents and grandparents where a surge of pot use is anticipated as a new cannabis "naive" generation comes on stream, raising concerns of risks to first-time users.

Among older Canadians, where marijuana is set to become legal by October of this year, its use is already on the increase. In applying reverse logic, a decrease in teen use may be linked to the perception that if older people use pot, it has lost its appeal. In Canada, people aged 45  to 64 represented 23 percent of consumers in 2017 figures, up from four percent in 1975, according to Statistics Canada.

America's golden years turn green (Drug Policy Alliance)

The Parliamentary Budget Officer has estimated that the number of cannabis consumers age 15 and over will increase from 4.6 million to 5.2 million by 2021 in Canada. In other words, approximately 600,000 people who don't now use cannabis will begin its use once it becomes legal. According to a 2017 Nanos poll, an estimated 1.9 million more people in Canada will become marijuana users. The odd aspect is that it is not from among the very young that the increase will occur, but among the elderly.

Concerns are being raised over dosage which people respond differently to. Some new users experience nothing whatever while others can come away with some quite unpleasant reactions. That marijuana is now more potent than it ever was is another concern. The U.S. drug enforcement agency released results of a recent study of illicit pot where it was discovered that THC levels -- the main psychoactive in pot -- have risen from about four percent in 1995 to 12 percent by 2014. Back in the 1970s THC levels were held to be close to one percent.

At high dosages, THC levels of more than 20 percent can produce anxiety attacks and psychotic-type symptoms. Pot mixed with liquor (or prescription drugs) has the potential to lead to increased heart rate, blood pressure and other health-risk side effects. When smoked or inhaled through a vaporizer, THC enters the lungs, becomes absorbed rapidly into the bloodstream then travels to the brain. Ingested as a food, the process is considerably restrained.

Cannabis is digested in the stomach, metabolized by the liver, and takes from 30 to 90 minutes for the active ingredient to reach the brain. Symptoms of pot poisoning most commonly observed are cannabinoid hyperemesis (nausea, vomiting, cramping), psychosis and chest pain. In Colorado, a marked increase in emergency visits with "possible marijuana exposures" in the first year of legalization was experienced the first year of legalization.

This was largely attributed to people overdosing on edibles, the majority of them lacking previous experience, and many being out-of-state tourists. Recently, two Toronto police constables illicitly took possession of several bars of seized marijuana-laced chocolate bars. While on surveillance duty they both ate part of one of the chocolate bars, causing them soon afterward to call 911 for emergency health aid, suffering severe ill effects requiring medical attention. Both have been suspended with pay and face disciplinary charges.

Const. Vittorio Dominelli, 36, has 13 years of service. He has been suspended with pay. (Natalie Kalata/CBC)