Dr. Sanjay Gupta's "Weed 7: A Senior Moment" Explores How Cannabis Can Decrease Seniors' Reliance On Prescription Drugs

"The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper" aired CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta’s “Weed 7: A Senior Moment” on Sunday, which looked at how seniors are safely and effectively using “more plants, fewer pills.”

Dr. Gupta, CNN’s chief medical correspondent who has been creating documentaries on cannabis for a decade, admitted that in the beginning he was skeptical about its use as a medicine, but that has all changed. 

“I came to the realization that in some cases, not only did cannabis provide relief, it was the only thing that did so,” Gupta said.

Baby Boomers Are On To Something

In the documentary, Gupta looked at what he called a remarkable demographic switch: seniors over 65 flocking to cannabis, forming the fastest growing group of cannabis users in the U.S. 

“People who grew up during the war on drugs and were in the formative years of their life when they experienced the impact of ‘Reefer Madness’ are now willing to try cannabis, often for the first time,” Gupta said. “More often than not, according to recent studies, seniors use cannabis daily to help address some of the nuisances of aging: poor sleep, aches and pains, mood. And they regularly prefer it over the other medications they were often prescribed, such as sleeping pills, antidepressants and even opioids.”

Gupta, associate prof of neurosurgery at Emory University Hospital, said part of the reason he decided to focus on baby boomers was a desire to explore if and how cannabis could decrease the number of medications seniors are taking.

Staggering Statistic

“Since 2020, the United States has spent $4 trillion a year on health care, of which almost $580 billion was spent on pharmaceuticals alone in 2021. When it comes to seniors, 30% of people over the age of 65 take five or more pharmaceuticals every day. But as they have increasingly turned to cannabis instead of pills, the expectation is that prescribed medication use may decrease,” Gupta noted.

See also: Baby Boomers Turning To Weed En Masse, Say It Improves Memory And Mood: Doctors Agree, CNN Series Explores

Gupta interviewed an otherwise healthy 94-year-old in Palm Beach who had suffered for years with terrible insomnia, not unlike one-third of the global population by the way. He began using cannabis when he was 91. 

The man’s insomnia had gotten worse over the years and was exacerbated by nagging anxiety. None of the medications prescribed to him provided relief and made him groggy the next day.

“With cannabis, not only did his sleep improve for the first time, but his existential anxiety was also quieted,” noted Gupta, adding that cannabis was far more than a sleep supplement for the man, “it was the only thing that really worked.”

Want to learn more about medical and adult-use marijuana and what the researchers are saying? Join us at the Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference in Chicago on September 27 and 28. All information is available on bzcannabis.com 

Photo: CNN Twitter