Use Continues to Grow Among Baby Boomers.

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Marijuana use is becoming more prevalent among middle-aged and older adults, with nine percent of adults aged 50-64 and nearly three percent of those 65 and older reporting marijuana use in the past year, according to a study by researchers at the New York University School of Medicine and the Center for Drug Use and HIV/HCV Research at NYU College of Nursing. In 2007, those figures were 4.5% and 0.4%, respectively.

Attitudes towards marijuana use are changing in the U.S., with a growing number of states legalizing medical and recreational marijuana. Although marijuana users are more likely to be young adults, the baby boom generation is unique, having more experience with recreational use of drugs than previous generations.

'The baby boom generation grew up during a period of significant cultural change, including a surge in popularity of marijuana in the 1960s and 1970s. We're now in a new era of changing attitudes around marijuana and, as stigma declines and access improves, it appears that baby boomers--many of whom have prior experience smoking marijuana --are increasingly using it says lead author Benjamin Han, assistant professor in both the Division of Geriatric Medicine and Palliative...