Why Are Older Adults Taking Edibles? Survey Reveals Some Surprises

May 12, 2026
Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter

Older adults are turning to cannabis edibles to help themselves feel better rather than to get stoned, a new study says.

They’re hoping to sleep better or ease their pain, and they’ve heard from friends that edibles might work better than their prescription drugs, according to findings published May 8 in JAMA Network Open.

“For the most part, we found that these folks aren’t really interested in getting high. They just want to feel better,” senior researcher Angela Bryan said in a news release. She’s a professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Colorado Boulder.

For the study, researchers interviewed 169 adults 60 or older living in the Boulder/Denver area who were interested in using edibles.

Most (32%) wanted to take edibles as an alternative to medication.

“I worry about the side effects of the NSAID meds, the Aleve, Excedrin, aspirin, ibuprofen,” a participant in their 70s told researchers. “They all really do help my arthritis when I take it, but I’ve also had friends that have gotten bleeding ulcers from taking those meds too much. So that’s made me very worried about taking them too often.”

Another 27% said they’d tried everything else.

“I’ve just tried so many things to deal with anxiety that this is like the last frontier,” a participant in their 60s said. “I like to know if something really does work that doesn’t leave you with a hangover or foggy or something that just calms me.”

And nearly 24% said they were hoping edibles might make a difference against increasing age-related health problems.

“Especially in the last ten years or so I’ve become much more achy and much more depressive in the mornings,” a participant in their 60s said. “My sleep quality is lower than it used to be. So, that’s the motivation.”

Only 7% said they were interested in using weed to get high or while hanging out with friends, researchers found.

“Overall, they really wanted better quality of life, reducing their pain, getting better sleep and being able to enjoy time with family and friends a little bit more,” said lead researcher Rebecca Delaney, an assistant professor of population health sciences at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.

Word of mouth also appears to be a powerful influence, with 21% saying they’d heard from doctors or friends that cannabis could help them.

“Because I’ve read about it and I have friends who are on medical cannabis who are getting relief, getting help with sleep and some relief from pain,” said a participant in their 70s.

“They brought a lot of feedback from other people to inform their opinions,” Delaney said in a news release. “Word of mouth has a really big impact.”

The researchers also asked what type of products the older adults were buying.

Nearly 14% wanted edibles containing only THC, the chemical in weed that causes intoxication, the study found.

Nearly 29% favored edibles containing mostly CBD, a compound in cannabis that doesn’t cause a high but has been shown to potentially have positive effects on health.

Most (almost 58%) preferred what researchers called the “Goldilocks option” of products that combined THC and CBD, the study found.

Researchers noted that the survey was conducted in Colorado, where recreational weed is legal. In states where only medical use is permitted, decisions might be different.

However, Delaney suspects that no matter the local laws, older adults everywhere likely share the same motivations when they weigh whether to try weed.

“The ultimate goal is to develop resources to help people make decisions and find products that meet their needs, and to figure out how we can distill information to patients and physicians,” she said.

“We would really love to see more of these conversations happening between physicians and patients to make sure that people feel supported and informed when seeking alternative ways to address their pain,” she added.

More information

Harvard Medical School has advice for older adults considering weed.

SOURCES: University of Utah Health, news release, May 8, 2026; JAMA Network Open, May 8, 2026

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