The Boomer Weed Rush is Real: Older Canadians Leading Country-Wide Increase in Use

Article by Christian Paas-Lang, Montreal Gazette

Half of all new users of cannabis in the first quarter of 2019 were aged 45 or older, showing boomers are increasingly flocking to legalized weed.

Of roughly 646,000 Canadians to try cannabis in 2019, 332,000 were 45 or older, data from the self-reported survey run by Statistics Canada shows. That brings that demographic’s overall rate of use up from 9 per cent last year to 14 per cent now.

The data released Thursday by Statscan is the first iteration of the National Cannabis Survey conducted exclusively after legalization in October last year. The study has been running since February 2018.

Overall, cannabis use among Canadians increased by three per cent, from 14 percent last year at this time, to 18 per cent, or 5.3 million Canadians aged 15 or older.

For context, nearly 8 in 10 Canadians (78%) reported drinking alcohol in the twelve months from October 2017 to October 2018, according to Statscan.

Still, cannabis use by older Canadians was still far lower than youth. Canadians aged 15 to 24 were by far the most heavy users (and more likely to use frequently), with almost 30 per cent having tried the drug in the past three months. The use rates also break down by gender, with men being much more likely to use cannabis, at over 22 per cent, versus just under 13 per cent for women.

Read the full article here.