Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Mar 5;17(1):17.
doi: 10.1186/s13011-022-00443-9.

Cannabis use prevalence among Baby Boomers before and after implementation of recreational retail sales in California

Zachary Carlson  1 , Steven Pham  1 , Jackie El-Sokkary  1 , Dorie E Apollonio  2
Affiliations

Cannabis use prevalence among Baby Boomers before and after implementation of recreational retail sales in California

Zachary Carlson et al. Subst Abuse Treat Prev Policy. .

Abstract

Background: As of 2021, 21 US states and territories allowed recreational cannabis use. Although previous research has identified an overall increase in prevalence of cannabis use after legalization, it has been less clear how this change will affect different parts of the population, including older adults, and specifically Baby Boomers, born 1946-1964, given their historically higher rates of use and a higher prevalence of comorbid conditions that could be either exacerbated or addressed by cannabis use. In this study we assessed whether implementation of recreational retail sales in California was associated with increased prevalence of cannabis use among Baby Boomers.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective study of cannabis use prevalence one year before and after the implementation of recreational retail sales in California using the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS), a statewide public health surveillance dataset.

Results: We found that cannabis use prevalence did not change among Baby Boomers but increased among non-Baby Boomers. Most of the factors found to be predictive of cannabis use in past research did not predict cannabis use among Baby Boomers.

Conclusions: Baby Boomers did not change their consumption of cannabis in the first year after opening the retail market, despite previous research suggesting that cannabis consumption increases with access, and most previously identified predictors of use did not identify people who use cannabis in this generation. Further research is needed to determine whether these effects persist over time.

Keywords: California; Cannabis; Drug; Legislation; Marijuana.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare they have no actual or potential competing financial interests.

References

    1. National Conference of State Legislatures . Cannabis overview. 2021.
    1. Patterson TL, Jeste DV. The potential impact of the baby-boom generation on substance abuse among elderly persons. Psychiatr Serv. 1999;50(9):1184–1188. - PubMed
    1. Hall W, Weier M. Assessing the public health impacts of legalizing recreational cannabis use in the USA. Clin Pharmacol Ther. 2015;97(6):607–615. - PubMed
    1. Hasin DS, Shmulewitz D, Sarvet AL. Time trends in us cannabis use and cannabis use disorders overall and by sociodemographic subgroups: A narrative review and new findings. Am J Drug Alcohol Abuse. 2019;45(6):623–643. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Smart R, Pacula RL. Early evidence of the impact of cannabis legalization on cannabis use, cannabis use disorder, and the use of other substances: Findings from state policy evaluations. Am J Drug Alcohol Abuse. 2019;45(6):644–663. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types