Most older adults who seek out marijuana do so to avoid negative effects associated with traditional pharmaceuticals or because they’ve exhausted other options to treat conditions like pain or sleep disorders, according to a new federally funded study released by the American Medical Association (AMA).
The study, published in JAMA Network Open on Friday, examined the motivations that have driven older adults to become the fastest-growing demographic of cannabis consumers in the U.S. Researchers at the University of Utah Health and the University of Colorado Boulder also looked at product preferences among older adults who expressed interest in experimenting with marijuana.
For the community-based, qualitative study—which was supported by funds from the National Institutes of Health (NIH)—researchers interviewed 169 adults aged 60 or older who were “seeking relief from age-related ailments (eg, pain or difficulty sleeping) and improved quality of life.”
While the underlying trend of seniors increasingly turning to marijuana has been widely reported, “little is known about the motivations and factors that influence their use of edible cannabis and product choice,” the study authors said.
“The findings of this study suggest that older adults are increasingly turning to cannabis for symptom management.”
The interviews analyzed for the study—which took
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