People over 65 are being hospitalized 2700% more for this common pastime which also increases dementia risk

Puff, puff, pass the medical bill. New research shows that emergency room visits and hospitalizations tied to cannabis use among older adults have increased nearly 27-fold since the aughts.Even more alarming: The study found that seniors who end up in acute care for weed-related issues are up to 72% more likely to develop dementia than their peers who visited the hospital for other reasons or not at all.Although marijuana remains illegal at the federal level, 39 states and DC have legalized it for medical use, while 24 states — plus the capital — allow adults 21 and older to light up recreationally. As the green wave sweeps the nation, middle-aged and older adults have gotten in on the cannabis craze.A 2024 study found that 21% of people 50 and up have used marijuana in the past year, and 12% say they partake at least monthly. For these adults, cannabis serves a variety of purposes, including as a sleep aid, pain reliever, mental health support and simply to relax and feel good, according to University of Michigan researchers. But lighting up can blunt your brain health.“Long-term and heavy cannabis use has been associated with memory problems in midlife along with changes in brain structure associated with dementia,” said Dr.

Daniel Myran, co-author of the study and a researcher at the University of Ottawa.“We set out to estimate the risk of being diagnosed with dementia in a group of people whose cannabis use resulted in a visit to the emergency room or required hospitalization for treatment.”  Myran and his colleagues analyzed the medical records of 6 million adults aged 45 and older in Ontario, Canada, who had no history of dementia when the study began.Among them, 16,275 people with a history of cannabis use required acute care — either an ER visit or hospitalization — between 2008 and 2021.Notably, the team found that the annual rate of adults over 45 seeking first-time acute care for cannabis use skyrocketed more than fivefold over the ...