When Don Searles went to a recent party, he didn’t want to show up empty-handed. So he made peanut brittle using an old family recipe \u2014 with a modern-day twist.<\/p>\n
“We added the marijuana,” he said.<\/p>\n
The party was hosted by 74-year-old Gayle Crawley at the Trilogy retirement community an hour east of San Francisco, where lately the golf course has a new competitor for popularity.<\/p>\n
Between 2021 and 2023, cannabis use among Americans 65 and older went up 46%, according to a study published<\/a> in JAMA Internal Medicine.<\/p>\n Crawley said those numbers reflect that marijuana is a “good solution to a lot of medicinal issues.”\u00a0<\/p>\n And with cannabis now legal in 40 states for medical use and 24 for recreational, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures<\/a>, the stigma is quickly diminishing.<\/p>\n Steven Clarke, another attendee at Crawley’s party, said he’s never smoked and prefers edibles. <\/p>\n When asked why he’s drawn to the drug, Clarke told CBS News that “it does work on PTSD, pain issues, relaxation issues, brain disorders, heart disease.”\u00a0<\/p>\n But some medical professionals disagree. <\/p>\n Matt Springer, a professor at UC San Francisco, warns that THC, the main psychoactive compound in marijuana, may carry health risks, no matter how seniors ingest it. <\/p>\n “If they are smoking marijuana, we can be pretty confident that they’re harming their cardiovascular system,” Springer told CBS News, adding that if they’re eating THC, “they’re not without risk.”<\/p>\n Other researchers found cannabis use is linked to a doubled risk of dying from cardiovascular disease, a 29% higher risk for acute coronary syndrome and 20% higher risk for stroke, according to a study<\/a> published in June. The authors analyzed data from 24 studies published from 2016 to 2023.<\/p>\n Searles, who suffers from chronic pain after a motorcycle accident five years ago, said he isn’t surprised by the findings.<\/p>\n “I go to my doctor and he says, geez, quit drinking milk. Uh, stay away from the sugar. What isn’t bad for you nowadays?” Searles said.<\/p>\n