The Ballad of the Silver Smoker - How Seniors Came Around to Lead the World in Marijuana Consumption
Arguably, one of the “oldest states” in the United States per capita has to be Florida. It wasn’t too long ago that Florida legalized cannabis and since then, we have seen a rise in the infamous “Silver Smoker”. These tokers are becoming more prevalent each passing year and legalization continues to sweep across the world – this trend will only become more noticeable.
Someone who is 70 years old today was born in the 1950s. This means that by the 1970s – the height of the hippie movement – they were in their early 20s. Thus indicating that these Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix listening youth are now the “silver smokers” we are referring to.
Suddenly – it makes total sense that these older demographics are starting to toke up. Except – the fact that a 70-year old was 20-years old in 1970 doesn’t mean that they smoked weed back then. This is because in 1968 only 0.2% of the US population were self-identified hippies.
This means that while hippies were prevalent in the 1970s – odds are that gramps or grannie wasn’t one of them. The 1970s was also the time that the drug war happened, Vietnam was a shit show and Nixon was not too happy with all the protests he had to deal with.
The youth in those days were exposed to drug culture – but they were also submerged in a post-WWII world where conservatism and puritanical anti-communist views were held in high esteem. Gramps and Grammy were probably very stuck up in their time – often cowering under desks for the fear of bombs dropping from the sky.
Then came the 1980s –
The silver smoker is now roughly 30-years old. By now – many of them have kids and are hard-working individuals. They don’t have time for all this hippie bullshit! It’s all about the industry and the American dream.
There’s a lot of HIV/AIDS on the television, the US and Russia are at it [as usual] and Raegan is president. Nancy goes full drug-warrior and creates a national disinformation campaign that supported the narrative of the drug war.
Interestingly enough, it was during this time that Joe Biden was also ramping up the drug war. He even criticized Bush for not being “tough enough”.
As the head of the Senate Judiciary Committee in the late 1980s and early ’90s, Biden did not just support the war on drugs and mass incarceration; he wrote many of the laws that helped build a punitive criminal justice system. That included measures that enacted more incarceration, more prisons, and tougher prison sentences for drug offenses, particularly crack cocaine. - Source
Our Silver Smokers during this time was NOT interested in weed.
1990 and the legalization of weed
The first time since the 1960s & 1970s – weed became a national topic when California legalized it for medical purposes in 1997. By this time, the Silver Smoker is hitting his or her early 50s. Not a lot of research is publically known about cannabis and they still don’t like it. Their kids are smoking it by now too – and they like it even less. What’s more – their kids are behaving like they were supposed to in their 20s.
2012 – Colorado and Washington legalizes
The Silver Smoker hits 60 and suddenly two states legalized cannabis for recreational purposes – the medical research shows promise and perhaps, the Silver Smoker was wrong about weed?
Especially since many states by now legalized it for medical reasons – and it seems to provide people with relief and that’s not a bad thing.
Today with the Silver Smoker
We fast-forward to the year the Silver Smoker turns 70, some are 80. Now – more than 2 decades of cannabis has been legal on the books, there have been reports on CNN about the efficacy of cannabis, the FDA approved a CBD-based drug – CBD is in the social vernacular and now consuming cannabis is no longer as taboo as before.
The Silver Smoker – with more than 50 years of cannabinoid deficiency starts to consume cannabis. Suddenly, their joints feel looser, they have less back pain, they have better digestion. There’s a sense of vitality that returns, food tastes better…they feel more alive.
What is this?
CANNABINOIDS!
YES!
Their system re-awakens, they begin to get rid of some symptoms they have been struggling with for years. They feel better!
The Silver Smoker prefers edibles, but wouldn’t mind some vape or tinctures. They don’t consume for recreational reasons and prefer to call it their medicine – but don’t get them wrong – they do love the high too.
The Silver Smoker will only grow in prevalence as more people join that stage of their lives. Can you imagine in 20 or 30 years? The people who are forty today smoke weed like it’s nobody’s business. This means, that the “Cannabis demographic” for the elderly is a growing market – think about it!
SENIORS AND WEED, READ MORE..
WASHINGTON POSTS REPORTS SENIORS LOVE WEED, READ THIS!
OR..
