Kids, you might want to have a talk with your parents (or grandparents) about the pot.
That’s because a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found that in an era when cannabis use is becoming increasingly legal and socially acceptable, it’s older generations who are turning to the drug at a faster rate than others.
The study, based on a national survey, found that in 2014, 2.5 million people age 12 or older used marijuana for the first time in the last year, adding up to about 7,000 new users every day. However, the study found that marijuana use among people age 12 to 17 dropped from 8 percent to 7.4 percent between 2002 and 2014.
While the study found that people were more likely to use marijuana across demographics (i.e. sex, race, education, region), the biggest increase was among adults aged 55 and up. Between 2002 and 2014 the percentage of people using pot between the age 55 and 64 increased from 1.1 percent to 6.1 percent.
In fact, in 2014, the study found that people in the 35-44-year-old demographic were more likely than teenagers to use cannabis.
The reasons posited for the steady increase in pot use among older Americans have varied. Some accounts attribute it to seniors wanting an alternative to pain pills or aging hippies indulging in old habits. Anyways, here's a video of grandmas smoking weed for the first time:
