New Survey Shows Older Adults Often Turn To Cannabis Products Over Traditional Pharmaceuticals

New survey data published shows that older adults frequently turn to cannabis products because they believe traditional pharmaceuticals pose too many side effects and negatively impact their quality of life.

The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) says the study was put together by researchers affiliated with the University of Utah and the University of Colorado at Boulder who interviewed 169 adults ages 60 and older who self-identified as first-time cannabis consumers.

Respondents were often motivated to try cannabis because they were seeking non-traditional options to manage various age-related symptoms, including pain and sleep disturbances.

Many of the respondents acknowledged avoiding pharmaceuticals because they found them to be ineffective or because they possessed significant adverse side effects.

Further survey data compiled by AARP reports that roughly 1 in 5 older adults acknowledge having consumed cannabis products in the past year.