Seniors are filling their prescriptions -- at a pot shop - gd xpost

[Jesus Malverde]

The 55-and-older crowd is now the fastest-growing demographic of pot users in the country. Between 2013 and 2014, the number increased from 2.8 million to 4.3 million.

In California, where medical marijuana is legal, seniors are learning how to fill their prescriptions -- at a pot shop. They want to know the highs and the lows of marijuana use for the aches and pains of growing old, reports CBS News correspondent Barry Petersen.

Eva Aguillara, 80, uses it to help with mobility.

"Every medication has a risk. I've made my choice," she said.

Seniors account for only 14 percent of the nation's population, but they use more than 30 percent of all prescription drugs including some highly-addictive painkillers. So pot is fast becoming a pill alternative. Marijuana use is up 53 percent with the 55-and-over crowd.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/seniors-marijuana-use-fastest-growing-pot-users-prescriptions/

[annabanana]

1. That's because us aging hippies

have an abiding understanding of it's effect!

[pscot]

2. It's part of my medical deduction

And I hope Harry J. Anslinger is spinning in his grave.

[jomin41]

3. Some of us seniors have been enjoying the herb

for longer than many of you kids have been alive!

[eridani]

4. This senior reallly appreciates modern analytical chemistry. Also accurate strain information.

Back in the day, a dealer would import a couple of kis and smoke some of it, pricing the pot by how much he had to smoke to get reasonably high. Stems, seeds, shake, and not a whole lot ob bud.

[TonyPDX]

5. Yes! I once felt ripped off when finding seeds in the bag.

Today, they're a bonus!

[eridani]

7. Or, as the com--mon answer to "How are things going" used to be

"I'm down to the seeds and the stems." If you are under 40, you've probably never heard that.

[TonyPDX]

6. 43 years and counting! n/t

[TonyPDX]

8. Your post made me re-count . . . 46 years!

And I'm so glad I can enjoy my remaining decades with legal cannabis.

[B Calm]

9. It helps my mobility. I'm ate up with arthritis after two back surgeries.

[womanofthehills]

10. And, the seniors are saving Medicare money by smoking pot - $165,000 in med mj states

Good job guys!!

In fact, Medicare saved more than $165 million in 2013 on prescription drugs in the District of Columbia and 17 states that allowed cannabis to be used as medicine, researchers calculated. If every state in the nation legalized medical marijuana, the study forecast that the federal program would save more than $468 million a year on pharmaceuticals for disabled Americans and those 65 and older.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-medicalpot-elderly-idUSKCN0ZM2C9