Victoria Crenshaw has heard of cannabis products helping cancer patients eat again and a person with dementia calm their uncharacteristic anger.
It even helps her personally, relieving joint pain in a knee she once thought would need to be surgically replaced.
“We've had many individuals that come and they're tired of the effect of the Ativan or some other medication that they've been taking for years. They don't want that feeling,” said Crenshaw, who is vice president at the senior living community Westminster-Canterbury on Chesapeake Bay in Virginia Beach and co-founder of Cannability Consulting, which helps adults figure out what kind of cannabis products could work for them.
“Nursing centers that we work with … they're looking to decrease their psychotropic medication for their older population,” she said. ”So they're looking at what is an alternative, and this has been a good alternative for some.”
The 2024 University of Michigan National Poll on Healthy Aging found 35% of people between 50-64 used a cannabis product in the preceding year. For people 65 and older, it was 18%.
On WHRO’s Another View with Barbara Hamm Lee, Crenshaw said older clients look to cannabis for a range of reasons:
“The majority of the reasons that we're seeing is sleep, anxiety, insomnia, inflammation, arthritis, chronic pain, cancer-related pain, post-traumatic stress disorders, dementia and end of life,” she said.
According to the University of Michigan research, people between 50 and 64 years old use a cannabis product – which can be in the form of oils, edibles or old-fashioned hash – primarily as a way to relax. More than half of the respondents reported discussing their cannabis use with health care providers.
Both age groups reported preferring edibles, beverages or tinctures to consume THC.
Crenshaw said in her experience, it can take some convincing to get senior citizens on board with cannabis or marijuana as a medical treatment or supplement.
“Sometimes the older individual starts the conversation and sometimes it's their adult children,” she said. “We have found some populations and older individuals of color are a little more skeptical about marijuana really because of historical distrust with the health care system.”
Personal marijuana use is legal in Virginia, as is growing a small number of plants. Possession of a small amount of marijuana is also decriminalized, meaning those found with it wouldn’t be charged with a crime.
The state has a law on the books that allows a retail market, but the regulatory framework to oversee it has yet to take shape.
Virginia’s Cannabis Control Authority oversees the state’s medical cannabis program, which served 104,000 people from June 2023 to June 2024. The Authority doesn’t publicly report demographic information.
Crenshaw’s consulting company works with anyone older than 21, but spends a lot of time educating older people and giving presentations to senior living communities. She recommends hemp-derived products, which aren’t considered marijuana because the THC content is too low.
“The hemp product really does give them the outcome they're looking for without that euphoric feeling that you might get from more THC in the product,” she said.
Hear the whole conversation on marijuana and older users below:
