In Seattle US old-timers rediscover the high life on cannabis tours ... https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/jul/01/seattle-retireme...

In Seattle US old-timers rediscover the high

life on cannabis tours
Retirement home residents take a trip to a producer

Denise Roux, 67, visits a cannabis factory in Seattle: I would like to buy it to get high too. Im a cheap high. It doesnt take
much. Photograph: Lucy Rock for the Observer

Lucy Rock in Seattle

Sunday 2 July 2017 00.03BST

Forget bingo, tea dances and seaside trips. Residents from a chain of Seattle retirement
homes are going on Pot for Beginners tours to learn about and buy cannabis in the
city, where its now legal.

Connie Schick said her son roared with laughter when he heard she was joining a eld
trip to a cannabis-growing operation, an extraction plant and shop. The 79-year-old,
who smoked the odd joint in the 70s, wanted to know how legalisation has changed the
way the drug is used and produced.

Schick was one of eight women, from their late 60s to mid-80s, who descended from a
minibus emblazoned with the name of their assisted living centre, El Dorado West,
outside Vela cannabis store last Tuesday.

You can only play so many games of bingo, said Schick. My son thought it was

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hilarious that I was coming here, but Im open-minded and want to stay informed.
Cannabis has come so far from the days when you smoked a sly joint and got into trouble
if they found out. We used to call it hemp then and didnt know its strength. It just used
to make me sleepy, so I didnt see the point.

Schick, who uses a wheelchair after suering a stroke, is interested in the therapeutic
eects of cannabis. Its so dierent now. There are so many ways you can take it, and all
these dierent types to help with aches and pains.

They used to say it was a gateway drug to other things, like cocaine Lots of peoples
views are changing.

Certainly, the number of people aged 65 or older taking cannabis in the US is growing.
The proportion of this age group who reported cannabis use in the past year rose more
than tenfold from 0.2% to 2.1% between 2002 and 2014, according to the National
Survey on Drug Use and Health. A Gallup poll last year showed that 3% of those over 65
smoke cannabis.

Much of this is attributed to the ageing of the baby-boomer generation, who dabbled
with the drug when they were young and are returning to it for medical or recreational
use as it becomes legal and more normalised. Cannabis is now legal for medical use in 29
states and for medical and recreational use in eight (since 2012 in Seattle and the rest of
Washington state).

Most of the women on the tour were more interested in the medical use, although
Denise Roux, 67, said: I would like to buy it to get high too but Im a cheap high, it
doesnt take much.

A seminar over sandwiches was held for thegroup as they sat in front of the large
windows of the cultivation room, where they could see scores of plants growing under
intense lighting.

They were told about the dierent strains: uplifting sativa plants and more sedating
indicas. They learned about tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which gives a high, and
cannabidiol (CBD) which does not, making CBD-rich cannabis appealing for medical use.
A scientist in a lab coat who worked in the processing facility spoke about terpenes
fragrant oils secreted by glands in the ower that give strains their dierent smells and
avours. Vials were snied and various ways to take cannabis were also covered,
including smoking, vaporising and eating it.

Roux, a retired administrative assistant, said: Im a big Google girl, but I wanted to talk
to people who know about it so I can understand it all better. I have an autoimmune
disease, which stops my appetite, and Im interested in marijuana from that standpoint.
She added she had used cannabis recreationally in the 80s and had returned to it to help
with her illness. I use a vape. It makes me sleepy and its a pain control, and it gives me
an appetite.

After the brieng, it was time for shopping. The store looked like an upmarket jewellers,
with muted lighting and art on the walls, except the glass cabinets in the store were
stocked with pre-rolled joints, edibles including chocolates and sweets, vape pens and
bags of dierent strains of cannabis rather than diamond rings and necklaces.

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Darlene Johnson, 85, a former nurse, perused their contents. On the advice of a bearded
bud tender, she bought a deep tissue and joint gel and a tincture to put in drinks,
which she hopes will help with her severe neck pain. I wanted a non-psychoactive
option, she said. I dont want to get high. I used to work in the emergency room and
saw people come in sick from taking too many drugs, though not usually marijuana.

Her friend, Nancy Mitchell, 80, has never tried cannabis. She has MS and had read that
cannabis could help with her symptoms. I wanted to know more details, she said. My
kids keep telling me, Mom, try it. I dont want to smoke things, but I see there are other
ways.

Smoking is not allowed at El Dorado West. Village Concepts, which runs the chain, has a
no-smoking policy and it is illegal to consume cannabis in public in the state.

The chains director of corporate development, Tracy Willis, said: There was one man
who was smoking it on his patio and he refused to stop, so he had to leave. If youre
using an edible, we dont have any issue with it, thats your own business. We treat it as a
recreational thing.

The tours began in response to questions from residents.They wanted to know where it
was sold, how much money was made from it, where it was grown, said Willis. Weve
had a good reaction [to the tours] from nine out of 10 relatives, but some are horried.
One angry daughter said we were encouraging marijuana use. Her mother told her to
butt out.

Participants on the tour learned about dierent ways to use

cannabis. Photograph: Jason Redmond/Reuters

Topics
Cannabis
The Observer
Drugs (Science)
Drugs (Society)
Seattle
Health

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