Baby boomers rediscover marijuana

published on September 25, 2013 in The Globe and Mail

When Cheryl MacLellan opened Hemp Country, a medical marijuana dispensary and shop for other pot-related goods in downtown Woodstock, Ont., about seven years ago, it attracted a young set.

Gradually, though, young adults were replaced by middle-aged patrons and, eventually, retirees. They entered sheepishly at first, Ms. MacLellan recalled, browsing items like hemp socks before noticing, as if by chance, the assortment of glass pipes, cannabis-laced baked goods and rolling papers.

“When we opened … the younger people were coming in and we were like, ‘Come back when you’re this tall,’ ” said Ms. MacLellan, a 55-year-old former police officer. “The people coming in daily now, they’re all white hairs.”

Her customers reflect a subtle demographic shift in marijuana users nationwide that anecdotal evidence suggests is a blend of medicinal and social needs.

The 2012 Canadian Community Health Survey released last week showed that 6.7 per cent of adults between the ages of 45 and 64 used the drug in the last year, up from 4.3 per cent in 2002. Among adults over 65, the percentage of users quadrupled over the same period, to 0.8 per cent from 0. 2 per cent.

David Andreatta
The Globe and Mail
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© Copyright BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS
St. Paul's Hospital 608–1081 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6Z 1Y6
Tel: 604-806-8477 | Fax: 604-806-9044
General inquiries: info@bccfe.ca
Media inquiries: communications@bccfe.ca
(Please do not use any of these email addresses to send personal information or book an appointment. To book appointments or contact the H2H clinic, please call 604-416-1517 or fax: 604-564-4893. Do not send your or your client's personal information via email.)

Our work serves clients and communities across British Columbia on lands and waters cared for and nurtured by the many distinct First Nations across the province. The BC-CfE humbly and gratefully acknowledge the stewards of these lands, particularly the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ílwətaʔ (Tsleil-Waututh) on whose unceded, traditional and ancestral territories our offices are located.