Why Adults 65+ Are the Fastest-Growing Cannabis Demographic

The Numbers Tell a Dramatic Story

Adults over 65 represent the fastest-growing cannabis demographic in the United States — and it is not even close. According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, analyzed by Dr. Benjamin Han and colleagues at NYU Langone Health and published in JAMA Internal Medicine (2025), past-month cannabis use among adults 65 and older reached 7% in 2023, up from 4.8% in 2021 — a 46% increase in just two years. Strong evidence

The longer view is even more striking. NSDUH data showed usage among this age group at just 0.4% in 2006, meaning the rate has increased roughly seventeenfold in less than two decades. NORML's national fact sheet states it plainly: "The fastest growing demographic of cannabis consumers is adults ages 55+."

The broader 50-and-older population shows equally dramatic growth. The University of Michigan National Poll on Healthy Aging, supported by AARP and conducted by NORC in 2024, surveyed 3,379 adults aged 50 to 101 and found that 21% had used cannabis containing THC at least once in the past year — nearly double the 12% reported in 2021. Among those users, 12% consumed at least monthly, 9% weekly, and 5% daily.

Why Boomers Came Back

The Baby Boom generation arrived at cannabis through a generational paradox. In the late 1960s and 1970s, marijuana use soared among young Americans — by 1979, 36% of Americans aged 18 to 25 smoked cannabis in the past month. Then the Reagan-era War on Drugs drove a dramatic reversal. Boomer support for legalization plunged from 47% in 1978 to just 17% by 1990, per Pew historical data.

Now those same Boomers — many carrying decades of chronic pain, arthritis, and insomnia — are returning. NSDUH analysis by Han and Palamar (2018, Drug and Alcohol Dependence) found that 92.9% of adults aged 50 to 64 who used cannabis in 2015-2016 had first tried it before age 21. As Dr. Joseph Palamar of NYU explained: "Most baby boomers who recently used marijuana first used as teens during the 1960s and 1970s. This doesn't mean these individuals have been smoking marijuana for all these years, but most current users are by no means new initiates."

The reasons seniors give for using cannabis are overwhelmingly health-related. The 2024 Michigan/AARP poll found the top motivations among adults 50 and older were relaxation (81%), sleep (68%), enjoyment (64%), pain relief (63%), and mental health support (53%). A UC San Diego geriatrics clinic study found that six out of ten cannabis-using patients in their Medicine for Seniors clinic started cannabis therapy after age 60.

Dispensaries Are Adapting

The cannabis retail industry has noticed. Senior discounts are now standard across the country:

Leafly maintains a searchable filter for dispensaries with senior discounts. At Redi dispensaries in Newton and Natick, Massachusetts, shoppers 65 and older grew from 4.5% of the customer base at opening in 2021 to approximately 9% by early 2026. NPR reported in 2023 that about 13% of customers at Union Square Travel Agency in New York City are over 60.

Flowhub analytics data shows that older generations visit dispensaries less frequently but spend more per visit — "likely due to purpose-driven shopping and less price sensitivity."

What This Means for You

Public opinion has shifted decisively. Pew Research Center data from January 2024 shows that 88% of U.S. adults believe marijuana should be legal in some form. Even among adults 65 and older, only 14% believe it should not be legal at all. Gallup's combined 2023-2024 data found that 47% of all Americans have now tried marijuana — an all-time high, up from just 4% when Gallup first asked in 1969.

If you are among the millions of older adults considering cannabis for the first time — or returning after decades — you are not alone, and you are not unusual. But the fact that cannabis is increasingly common does not make it risk-free, especially after 65. Age-related changes in liver metabolism, body composition, and the endocannabinoid system mean that cannabis affects an older adult very differently than a younger one.

That is why this site exists: to bridge the gap between the reality of senior cannabis use and the evidence needed to do it safely.

Next Steps

• Start Low, Go Slow — the evidence-based dosing protocol for adults over 65
• Talking to Your Doctor — how to raise the subject with your provider
• Your First Dispensary Visit — what to bring, what to ask, and what to expect