How marijuana affects us differently as we age

If you are a regular user of cannabis, or have enjoyed it occasionally for many years, you may have noticed that it affects you differently today than it did 5, 10 or even 20 years ago. Many of these changes may have to do with factors such as tolerance, the weed itself, or even life experience.

After all, once we get used to a substance, it doesn’t feel quite the same as it used to, and it takes more of the substance to feel the similar effects. But there could be something else contributing to this change you are feeling. Your age could be one of the reasons cannabis affects you differently now than it did when you were younger.

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Marijuana use has increased significantly in recent years among the elderly population. According to a 2020 study published in JAMA network, “Marijuana use among people over 65 had increased 75 percent in the previous year from 2015 to 2018, from 2.4 percent of this group to 4.2 percent. By 2019, usage had reached 5 percent.” With this steady increase in older people getting high, it’s more important than ever to understand if and how marijuana use affects people differently based on age.

Cannabis use is only now being widely studied and tested. It will take years of data and further decriminalization of cannabis before we can get more nuanced answers about how marijuana affects us as we age. But while much more research needs to be done, with the limited research available, scientists are uncovering some very interesting findings — and some might even surprise you.

On the one hand, memory and mental performance must be taken into account. You might think that as we age, marijuana might affect our memory and cognition more than it used to. After all, as we age, our minds aren’t exactly what they used to be. However, this may not be the case when it comes to marijuana use. Corresponding a study from 2021 titled “Are the Acute Effects of THC Different in Aging Adults,” the results and previous reports are actually different from what you might think.

“Consistent with some reports in the preclinical literature, the results suggest that older adults may be less sensitive to THC’s effects on cognitive and affective measures.” In other words, older users tended to use their minds well (if not even better) than younger adults. At the end their insights suggest that “THC has a negative impact on aspects of cognition in younger adults and that young adults are more susceptible to THC-dependent phenotypes.”

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When it comes to cannabis and age, the curious findings aren’t just limited to the elderly and more “experienced” cannabis users. There are also some studies comparing adult cannabis use to adolescent cannabis use. According to a 2019 study examining age-related differences in cannabis use, adolescents showed slightly more resilient memories than older users. “Human adolescents showed less impairment of memory than adults after intoxication,” the study said to learn.

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But while the younger users may have had fewer impairments, they found that younger users tended to crave more cannabis. “Craving and inhibitory control may not decrease as much in adolescents as in adults after cannabis intoxication.” The authors also noted that these trends were most evident in “very heavy and dependent users.”

Further research is needed to uncover more concrete evidence within these trends. Marijuana affects everyone differently, and the age of the user is an understudied but clearly significant variable when it comes to THC and how we respond to it.

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Today this type of research is more important than ever. More seniors (and adults in general) are eventually turning to cannabis over other substances. Retailers are also catching on to the trend. “Major retailers offer pharmacy discounts of 10 to 20 percent on ‘Silver Sundays’ or ‘Senior Appreciation Days,'” the company said New York Times.

With seniors becoming a crucial part of the retail market, it seems high time we understood the various effects marijuana has on us as we age.