Baby boomers are abusing marijuana at a higher rate as more Medicare beneficiaries turn to cannabis with ‘little other safe choices for pain or sleep’

From 2017 through 2022, rates of health care encounters involving cannabis-related disorders increased among Medicare beneficiaries, according to a new study by the Food and Drug Administration. (Credit: RealPeopleGroup/Getty Images)

Older Americans aren’t just using cannabis more, they’re also consuming the sometimes-legal-sometimes-not drug in dangerous ways. From 2017 through 2022, rates of health care encounters involving cannabis-related disorders increased among Medicare beneficiaries, according to a new study by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). 

A team of researchers led by FDA epidemiologist Silvia Perez-Vilar, PharmD, PhD, analyzed the data of nearly 56 million Medicare beneficiaries ages 65 and older. Nursing home residents and patients receiving dialysis were excluded. More than three dozen cannabis disorders were included, from abuse with withdrawal, to dependence with intoxication delirium.