Record high: Study finds growing cannabis use among older adults

Older people who use marijuana today have higher income, education levels

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Marijuana use among older adults in the US has reached a new high, with 7 percent of adults aged 65 and over who report using it in the past month, according to an analysis led by researchers with the Center for Drug Use and HIV/HCV Research (CDUHR) at the NYU School of Global Public Health. 

Their findings, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, also show that the profile of those who use cannabis has changed in recent years, with pronounced increases in use by older adults who are college-educated, married, female, and have higher incomes.

“Our study shows that cannabis use among older adults continues to increase, although there have been major shifts in use according to demographic and socioeconomic factors,” said Joseph Palamar, PhD, MPH, an associate professor of population health at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, an affiliated researcher with CDUHR, and the study’s senior author.

Most Americans live in a state where marijuana has been legalized for medical use, recreational use, or both. To better understand the prevalence of marijuana use among older adults in the US, researchers examined data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health from 2021 through 2023. The respondents, who were 65 and older, were asked about past-month cannabis use, which was defined as “current” use.

“This is the first time we were able to examine ‘current’ use of cannabis in this age group. Before, we were only able to look at past-year use because the numbers for current use were too small,” said Benjamin Han, MD, MPH, associate professor and associate chief of research in the Division of Geriatrics, Gerontology, and Palliative Care at the University of California San Diego and the study’s first author.

The researchers found that current cannabis use among older adults grew to 7 percent in 2023, up from 4.8 percent in 2021 and 5.2 percent in 2022—a nearly 46 percent increase in only two years.

“If we look even further back to 2006 and 2007, less than 1 percent of older adults used cannabis in the past year. Now, we’re seeing that 7 percent have used it in the past month alone,” said Han, an affiliated researcher with CDUHR.

Certain groups of older adults experienced sharper increases in use over this period than others, including those who are married, white, have a college degree, and have an income of at least $75,000. Older women also saw a steep increase in cannabis use, although older men are still more likely than women to use the drug.

In addition, cannabis use grew more among those living in states where medical marijuana is legal versus states where it is not.

“It shouldn't be surprising that use is becoming increasingly more common among people who live in states that allow medical cannabis, which could be due to increased availability or social acceptability,” said Palamar. “Interestingly, with respect to income, those with the highest incomes had the lowest prevalence of cannabis use in 2021, but by 2023 this group had the highest prevalence, which may indicate who has access to medical cannabis given its costs.”

The researchers also found significant increases in cannabis use by older adults with chronic diseases—and notably, those with multiple chronic conditions—including heart issues, diabetes, hypertension, cancer, and chronic pulmonary obstructive disease.

The authors caution that the overall increases may be driven, in part, by those who use cannabis aging into the 65+ age bracket for the period studied. Regardless, they recommend that clinicians screen and educate their older patients about cannabis use, including how physiological changes that accompany aging can make people more sensitive to psychoactive substances.

“As a geriatrician, I see more and more people interested in using cannabis for treating chronic health symptoms. But cannabis can complicate the management of chronic diseases and be potentially harmful if patients are not educated on its use and potential risks,” said Han.

Kevin H. Yang of UC San Diego and Charles Cleland of NYU Grossman School of Medicine were also co-authors on the study. The research was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (K23DA043651, R21DA058404, R21DA060362, R01DA057289, R01DA060207, and P30DA01104) and the UC San Diego Sam and Rose Stein Institute for Research on Aging.

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Journal

JAMA Internal Medicine

DOI

10.1001/jamainternmed.2025.1156 

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Trends in Past-Month Cannabis Use Among Older Adults

Article Publication Date

2-Jun-2025

 

Circadian preference is associated with impulsivity in adolescents

Surprisingly, there was no association between biological circadian timing and impulsivity

American Academy of Sleep Medicine

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DARIEN, IL – A new study to be presented at the SLEEP 2025 annual meeting found that adolescents who prefer to sleep and wake up later (“night owls”) reported greater impulsivity than those who prefer to sleep and wake up earlier (“morning larks”).

Results show that adolescents with self-reported evening preference, or “night owl” tendencies, reported greater negative urgency and lack of perseverance, which are two aspects of impulsivity. This means that they were more likely to act impulsively when experiencing negative emotions and quit difficult tasks. In contrast, there was no association between objectively measured circadian phase and impulsivity.

“Surprisingly, we did not find a significant link between dim light melatonin onset and impulsivity in our sample,” said lead author Riya Mirchandaney, who is a doctoral candidate in clinical-health psychology at the University of Pittsburgh. “This suggests that there may be unmeasured psychological or behavioral factors influencing both impulsivity and the self-assessment of circadian preference, regardless of the timing of an individual’s internal circadian clock.”

According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, circadian rhythms are internal biological rhythms that exist in all living organisms. This timekeeping system, or “body clock,” is synchronized to the 24-hour, light-dark cycle. Circadian preference reflects an individual’s desired timing of sleep and wake, and circadian timing can be objectively measured by analyzing saliva or blood plasma to detect dim light melatonin onset.

The study involved 210 adolescents across two studies. They had a mean age of 17 years, and 60.5% were female. Participants completed self-reported measures of impulsivity and circadian preference. Laboratory samples of saliva were taken to assess circadian phase by determining dim light melatonin onset. During a week-long protocol, participants also wore a wrist actigraph to estimate sleep midpoint and duration, and at bedtime they completed an assessment of impulsivity.

Mirchandaney emphasized that the results could influence future research to help teens avoid the negative effects of impulsivity, which is a well-established contributor to alcohol and substance use.

“Adolescence may be a prime opportunity for preventing adverse outcomes associated with impulsivity using chronotherapeutic interventions to advance sleep and circadian timing,” she said.

This study was supported by grants from the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism within the National Institutes of Health. The research abstract was published recently in an online supplement of the journal Sleep and will be presented June 9 during SLEEP 2025 in Seattle. SLEEP is the annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, a joint venture of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society.

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Abstract Title: Circadian Preference, but Not Circadian Phase, Associates with State and Trait Levels of Impulsivity in Adolescents
Abstract ID: 0022
Poster Presentation Date: Monday, June 9, 10-10:45 a.m. PDT, Board #123
Presenter: Riya Mirchandaney, doctoral candidate in clinical health-psychology at the University of Pittsburgh

About the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, LLC

The APSS is a joint venture of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society. The APSS organizes the SLEEP annual meeting each June (sleepmeeting.org).

About the American Academy of Sleep Medicine
Established in 1975, the AASM is a medical association that advances sleep care and enhances sleep health to improve lives. The AASM membership includes more than 9,500 physicians, scientists, and other health care professionals who help people who have sleep disorders. The AASM also accredits 2,300 sleep centers that are providing the highest quality of sleep care across the country (aasm.org).

About the Sleep Research Society 

The SRS is a professional membership society that advances sleep and circadian science. The SRS serves its members and the field of sleep and circadian research through training and education, and by providing forums for the collaboration and exchange of ideas. The SRS facilitates its goals through scientific meetings and trainee specific programming, and by advocating for federal sleep and circadian research funding. The SRS also publishes the peer-reviewed, scientific journals Sleep and Sleep Advances (sleepresearchsociety.org).

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Journal

SLEEP

DOI

10.1093/sleep/zsaf090.0022 

Method of Research

Observational study

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Circadian Preference, but Not Circadian Phase, Associates with State and Trait Levels of Impulsivity in Adolescents

 

Salamanders suffering from rising temperatures

Goethe University study confirms: extreme weather events exacerbate the threat to global amphibian diversity

Goethe University Frankfurt

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image: 

The fire salamander native to Europe is one of many species that depend on sufficient moisture.

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Credit: Daniel Rosengren/Frankfurt Zoological Society

FRANKFURT. Habitat loss, diseases, pollution, and climate change are already massively affecting amphibians – frogs, salamanders, and the caecilians native to tropical regions. The new study from the Institute for Ecology, Evolution and Diversity shows that extreme weather events serve as an additional stress factor, further intensifying this crisis. For this purpose, the scientists analyzed global weather data from the past 40 years. They compared regions with significantly increased heat waves, droughts, and cold spells with the geographical distribution of more than 7,000 amphibian species and their threat status on the "Red List." The Red Lists are being published since 1964 by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) and are considered an important tool for assessing the threat status of animal, plant, and fungal species worldwide.

 

Critical Interaction of Various Factors

The results are clear: where heat waves and droughts have increased, the threat status of amphibians on the Red List has also significantly deteriorated since 2004. "Amphibians' dependence on temporary wetlands for breeding makes them particularly vulnerable to droughts and temperature shifts that causes their breeding grounds to dry prematurely," explains Dr. Evan Twomey, lead author of the study. "Our analyses show the direct connection between the increase in extreme weather events and the decline of amphibian populations."

 

Regional Focus Areas

Three regions are particularly affected: Europe, the Amazon region, and Madagascar. While in South America the majority of amphibians found there – mostly frogs – are exposed to increasing heat waves, in Europe it is primarily droughts that are causing problems for the animals. Here, it is mainly salamanders that suffer under the changed conditions. The situation in Central Europe gives cause for concern. Future climate projections show that drought periods in Central Europe will likely increase in both duration and intensity. Prof. Lisa Schulte, head of the Department of Wildlife-/Zoo-Animal-Biology and Systematics warns: "Already half of the true salamanders native to Central Europe are exposed to increasing droughts today - and this will likely get worse in the future."

 

Urgent Need for Action

The study results highlight the urgency of targeted conservation measures. Various approaches from amphibian research could help threatened species. These include, for example, the creation of small protected areas where amphibians can find refuge, as well as the improvement of wetlands to ensure optimal living conditions. Creating moist retreat sites, such as using pipes or boards, also provides these animals with opportunities to withdraw during dry periods.

The study provides important foundations for adapted conservation strategies in the particularly affected regions. Amphibians are considered indicators of ecosystem health – their protection is therefore of paramount importance for preserving biodiversity.

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Journal

Conservation Biology

DOI

10.1111/cobi.70074 

Method of Research

Data/statistical analysis

Subject of Research

Animals

Article Title

Quantifying exposure of amphibian species to heatwaves, cold spells, and droughts

 

Mamari Tablet, or Text C. Credit: Chauvet, Stéphen-Charles; on-line translation by Ann Altman (2004) [1935] L'île de Pâques et ses mystères (Easter Island and its Mysteries), Paris: Éditions Tel

The Unexpected Path To The Mamari Tablet—A Personal Discovery

 June 4, 2025  0 Comments

By Michael Baldwin

I never expected to make a meaningful contribution to one of the world’s last undeciphered writing systems—especially not over a single weekend. But sometimes, curiosity grabs hold of you, and before you know it, you’re completely consumed by a mystery that refuses to let go.

It was a regular Friday night. I was unwinding, scrolling through a few things online, when something sparked a memory—the Rongorongo tablets of Easter Island. I remembered reading about them years ago, and how nobody had cracked their meaning. That thought just stuck. No Rosetta Stone. No living tradition. Just intricate glyphs carved into ancient wood, waiting.

I’ve always loved learning about ancient human history, especially the things that are still unanswered. I look at it like this: if there’s a theory about why something might be the way it is, and there’s even a small chance it can be proven or disproven with just a little effort, I’m going to give it a shot. This was my first time seriously trying something like this.

Out of curiosity, I pulled up some high-resolution images and started reading about the clues researchers had already uncovered—especially on the Mamari Tablet, or Text C, which is one of the most complete examples we have. That’s when I came across Line 9. I read that it had 30 repeating glyph sequences. Some scholars believed this line might represent a calendar, maybe even a lunar one, but nothing was definitive. Others noted glyphs that resembled crescents, counts that suggested structure, or placement that hinted at timekeeping—but no one had locked it down.

I zoomed in and started staring at those glyphs myself. The repetition felt deliberate, and the sequence had a clear structure to it. I started cross-referencing the glyphs with known lunar night names and reading more about how Polynesian cultures organized their time around lunar cycles. That’s when a possibility started forming—what if this wasn’t just a random line of glyphs, but a sidereal calendar based on the stars, not the moon’s phases? It felt like something worth chasing.

So I went all in. I spent that weekend doing nothing else. I compared glyphs, chased down clues, and with the help of AI-assisted pattern recognition, I started seeing connections. Line 9 looked like it was mapping out a 13-moon sidereal calendar that started on the summer solstice. Then I looked at Line 8—and sure enough, I started seeing patterns that echoed the same structure.

By Sunday night, I had something real. Not a full translation, but a theory built on cultural logic, repeated glyphs, and calendar alignment. I wanted to share it, to put it out into the world. I tried a couple of academic publishing sites—they didn’t load or wouldn’t take the file. So I went with Zenodo. It was simple, credible, and got the job done. I uploaded the paper on June 1, 2025, got a digital object identifier, and figured that was the end of it.

Then the email came. The Easter Island Foundation had seen my work. The president—Mary Dell Lucas—reached out and said they wanted to feature my findings in their official newsflash. I couldn’t believe it. Getting recognition like that from the people who actually safeguard the legacy of Rapa Nui meant everything.

I’m not claiming I’ve solved Rongorongo. Far from it. But I think I’ve found something that fits—something that makes cultural and structural sense. I welcome critique. I hope people challenge it. That’s how progress happens.

This whole experience showed me that you don’t need a grant, a lab, or a university to make a meaningful contribution. Sometimes, all it takes is a question you can’t let go of, a weekend you’re willing to lose, and the tools to follow the thread.

• About the author: Michael Baldwin is an independent researcher focused on ancient knowledge systems, site alignments, and the symbolic and energetic decisions behind how ancient cultures shaped their environments.

• Source: This article was produced by Human Bridges.