Why are the 55+ elderly Americans taking to weed consumption?
Everything starts as a conundrum until it is understood when it ceases to be a mystery. Applying common or uncommon sense, we often arrive at the answer, sometimes through statistics and sometimes through experimentation, through violence and threats; approaches are many, but cannabis users certainly recommend peace, love, and togetherness.
Cannabis dreams beckon extensively in America and across the border Canada as both countries propose liberal laws that allow patients to undergo marijuana-based treatments and guys can also take it legally and recreationally. Now that the dark stains of many decades have been removed, people can smoke, vape or eat and drink cannabis in peace. Fears do not haunt now of getting addicted to hard drugs or losing their minds after using marijuana, unlike in the past.
Opponents of liberal cannabis laws also exist, and they believe that the younger generation of school kids would be spoilt if the drug was available so easily, even though the rules recommend the age of 21 years or older for legal consumption. We know the truth out there, the drug smugglers and the substance abuse, and the cross-border drug trade coming from Mexico.
Prepare for the shock when statistics prove that the kids have not increased dope intake in spite of all the goodies available legally though not for them. Now, the 55+ generation has taken to cannabis in large numbers. Between 2014 and 2014 when marijuana laws were getting liberal, the number increased from 2.8 million to over 4 million elders!
We need to analyze the phenomenon. Why would the elders be doping themselves? The truth is not hard to find. Consider the figures again. The age group 55 and above may constitute about 15% of the USA population, but they make up about 30% of the prescription drug users, and many need painkillers. A large number of the painkillers cause addictions, along with nasty side effects. It is widely known, and the government knows it, as does the pharmaceutical industry.
Now we realize that cannabis wins easily in that bitter war! Cannabis has no side effects and is championed as a wonder medicinal plant, used since time immemorial in native cultures for spiritual highs along with health treatments. Cannabis mitigates pain all right, greater than many of those costly and bitterly addictive drugs.
Cannabis may have some disadvantages like all medications do, but the advantages are too many to be ignored. Now that prohibition no longer applies, marijuana lets it be, on the way to a comprehensive national legal cannabis culture.
