Cannabis use among seniors rising — and so are related ER visits

At 80, Bob McBride uses cannabis both recreationally and to manage what he calls "age-related pain."

"I smoke it occasionally and I use gummies," McBride, who's from the Ottawa Valley in southeastern Ontario, told The Current's Matt Galloway. "I do either or both, maybe two or three times a week."

Having used cannabis for most of his life, McBride says he knows his limit and how to take cannabis safely.

"It's enjoyable. It's relaxing. It stimulates me in conversation. It enhances a lot of the things that I do through the day," he said. "I think of it as a user-friendly drug that I have learned how to use responsibly."

Seniors, like McBride, are among the fastest-growing age group in Canada for using cannabis. A Statistics Canada report found that more than 400,000 seniors reported using cannabis in the past three months in 2019, up from 40,000 seniors who reported using in 2012. More recent data suggests that trend has continued.

Meanwhile, the number of seniors ending up in emergency departments with cannabis poisoning has also risen sharply since legalization, new research shows. It's led some experts to call for more education and better guidelines around safe cannabis consumption for older adults.

Dr. Nathan Stall, a geriatrician at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, recalls a patient in his 80s who came to the ER.

"This older adult was presenting in the way that individuals would present with very serious illness: decreased level of consciousness, hallucinating, high blood pressure and heart rate, nausea and vomiting," Stall said.

The usual litany of tests didn't reveal an obvious cause for why the man was so unwell, Stall said. Then a toxicology screen came back positive showing the man had cannabis in his system.

"I think when people think about cannabis poisoning, or taking too much cannabis, they think about someone who's coming in giddy, euphoric, maybe asking to eat — I don't think many people think of this as someone who's, you know, quite ill," Stall said.

The culprit: an edible cannabis product belonging to a family member that the patient had unknowingly consumed, thinking it was a snack. Stall remembers the family member turning "beet red" with embarrassment upon learning what had happened.

"Because it's so socially acceptable now, edible cannabis products aren't necessarily always treated as a potentially dangerous substance, if someone who's not intending to take it can get into it," Stall said.

Stall is the lead author of a study published last month in the peer-reviewed medical journal JAMA Internal Medicine looking into cannabis poisoning in seniors.

It found that the number of people 65 and older visiting Ontario emergency departments with cannabis poisoning tripled between 2015 and 2022.