Seniors are one of the fastest-growing populations of cannabis users in the United States. While some older adults have used pot for decades, studies suggest that others are turning to the drug for the first time to help them sleep better, dampen pain or treat anxiety — especially when prescription drugs, which often come with unwanted side effects, don’t work as intended.

In 2007, only about 0.4% of people age 65 and older in the United States had reported using cannabis in the past year, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. That number rose to almost 3% by 2016. As of 2022, it was at more than 8%.

Nancy Herring, 76, has been using cannabis recreationally for her entire adult life. But it wasn’t until her husband was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and dementia two years ago that she began to wonder about pot’s medicinal use.

During the course of his illness, her husband, now 79, had developed insomnia. Soon, neither of them was sleeping.

Doctors prescribed pills to help him rest, but “nothing really worked,” she said. At one point, he reacted so negatively to a medication, he ended up in the hospital.

Then they tried an indica strain from a dispensary near where they live in Clearwater, Florida. Now, after one gummy and a hit on a pipe, her husband “can sleep at night, which is a huge thing,” she said.

Marijuana’s medicinal properties have not been well studied, particularly among older users, making it difficult for doctors to counsel their patients. Cannabis companies have rushed to fill the void, offering tips to older adults about dosage or formulations and even creating products meant to appeal to them. Meanwhile, as more seniors experiment with cannabis, they are evangelizing to one another about its benefits and sharing the problems they’ve encountered along the way.

Carminetta Verner, 88, has become the go-to source for cannabis information at her retirement community, the sprawling Leisure World complex in Montgomery County, Maryland.

In 2018, she founded a club devoted to educating residents about medical cannabis. The club’s membership, which has now grown to about 100 people, might be higher if it weren’t for the stigma still associated with the drug, Verner said.

As more states legalize cannabis — it is now permitted for recreational use in more than 20 states and Washington, D.C., and for medical use in 38 states and D.C. — the number of seniors who turn to marijuana will only continue to grow, experts say.

Steve Hickerson, who lives in Laguna Woods, California, wants to sleep better.

In the past, he felt using mind-altering drugs was morally wrong, but now, he said, “I’m 79. Things are different.”

Companies are capitalizing on the newfound interest. Earlier this year, Hickerson was bused to an event organized by Glass House, one of the biggest cannabis brands in the country, along with about 50 other people from his retirement community who were offered cannabis products at a substantial discount.

The company Trulieve, which has the largest retail footprint for cannabis products in the United States and a 750,000- square-foot cannabis cultivation facility in north Florida, is also connecting with older people through educational sessions at senior living communities.