Hawaii’s fastest-growing set of medical cannabis users are over 66

Cynthia Wright’s salt-and-pepper hair flowed down her back as she strolled out of the marijuana dispensary on South King Street on Friday with husband Mack after picking up their daily medications.

The Lahaina residents, who visited the Aloha Green Apothecary dispensary twice while on a weekend trip on Oahu, are among a growing number of baby boomers turning to pakalolo to treat the multiple ailments that come with age.

The average age of Hawaii’s pot patients is 51, and those between the ages of 56 and 65 are the largest population of medical marijuana users statewide, Health Department statistics show.

What’s more, the number of seniors 66 to 75 using medical cannabis has jumped 32 percent to 4,544 from 3,441, while patients 76 and older nearly doubled to 961 from 491.

“I see a lot of older people (going to the dispensaries). With our generation, we’re more accustomed to using it,” said Mack Wright, 56, who uses the drug for his back spasms and pain from shoulder surgery. “The thing that gets me is there’s still this stigma. Even though we have our medical cards, people still, even in our families, don’t like the idea. They still consider it stoning. With what’s going on in the greater part of the mainland United States with the opioid epidemic … I think these natural derivatives are way better.”

Cynthia Wright, 57, said she’s smoked cannabis for most of her life but uses it specifically to treat the aches that came after hurting her tailbone, as well as her anxiety, nausea and insomnia.

“It doesn’t make you feel as sick as when you take the medicines from doctors,” she said. “I’m a diabetic, and I haven’t taken that (the medicines from the doctors) for over 15 years now. It costs a lot for some of the medicines that some of our older people take — my medicines totaled about $300 a month. Now that I don’t take that, I use that money in replacement to buy my pot or my medical marijuana.”

Marijuana is becoming more of a societal norm with more than 30 states legalizing the drug for medical purposes, even though it is still illegal under federal law. Ten states and Washington, D.C., have also legalized recreational pot.

Older patients are the fastest-growing segment of the medical cannabis population at Maui Grown Therapies, with those over age 50 comprising 55 percent of the dispensary’s active patients, said spokeswoman Teri Gorman.

“When we opened our business, we saw right away that our patient base was on the older side — a lot of kupuna have come in. Most of these folks went to college in the early ’70s or late ’60s, and marijuana was pretty prevalent on college campuses during that time so certainly they were exposed to it,” she said. “They tend to be much less fearful than other people.”

Many seniors are increasingly uncomfortable with the number of pharmaceutical medications being prescribed and are looking for alternatives with fewer side effects, according to dispensary representatives.

“Older people tend to have more health problems, so … more of them would look at alternative treatments, especially if there’s something available that may have less side effects,” said Aloha Green spokeswoman Helen Cho. “Whether it’s legal or illegal makes a big difference for a lot of people. There are studies, and we know that cannabis can help with a lot of ailments and that legally in the state of Hawaii it is not wrong to use it as medicine if you have a qualifying condition. When you add all those things together, it opens a lot of doors that were previously closed for some people.”

Even with the growing acceptance of marijuana, some senior living communities restrict its use.

Kahala Nui has put policies in place to ensure residents in the assisted-living nursing facility only use cannabis products that are authorized by a physician and approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, said Pat Duarte, president and CEO.

“On the independent-living side we don’t control our residents. As far as the nursing area is concerned, the assisted-living side of our facility is smoke-free … (so) they can’t smoke it,” he said. “We’ve had a few patients that have used it … (but) it has to be by physician order and an FDA-approved product.”

BY THE NUMBERS

51.4

Average age of cannabis users

56-65

Age range of the largest group of users

66+

Age of the fastest-growing group of users