One in nine older U.S. adults who have used cannabis in the past 12 months meet criteria for cannabis use disorder (CUD), according to a study published online Sept. 28 in Addiction.
Benjamin H. Han, M.D., from the University of California San Diego in La Jolla, and colleagues used data from the 2021 to 2024 National Survey on Drug Use and Health to examine cannabis use and CUD among older adults. The analysis included 21,189 adults aged 65 years and older.
The researchers found that 8.9 percent of older adults used cannabis in the past 12 months, and among them, 11.4 percent met criteria for CUD (76.0 percent mild, 20.1 percent moderate, and 3.9 percent severe CUD). The most common modality for past 12-month use was smoking (65.8 percent), followed by eating or drinking (40.5 percent) and vaping (15.4 percent). Nearly 20 percent of users (19.9 percent) had a doctor recommend any cannabis use. A higher risk for CUD was seen among male versus female counterparts (relative risk [RR], 1.69) and those ever arrested and booked (RR, 1.59) or with past-year mental illness (RR, 2.93), past-year tobacco use (RR, 1.52), drug use other than cannabis (RR, 3.22), smoking as a mode of cannabis use (RR, 4.94), and frequent cannabis use (e.g., ≥300 versus <300 days per year: RR, 3.70).
“While there is a lot of attention on how cannabis may help common chronic symptoms older adults experience or the possible acute adverse effects in this population, less focus has been on cannabis use disorder,” Han said in a statement. “It is important to recognize that any psychoactive substance, including cannabis, can lead to a harmful pattern of use, including among older adults.”
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