Rossmoor Seniors Fired Up About Curative Powers Of Cannabis

With an average age of 76, Rossmoor is the kind of place where smoking is banned, though many puff cigars in plain sight on the golf course. [...] before the Rossmoor Medical Marijuana Education and Support Club held its first meeting in 2011, marijuana was rarely seen, smelled or discussed on the facility’s surgically trimmed grounds. [...] the club has grown into a 250-member juggernaut, illustrating the growing acceptance of marijuana in America by seniors — and their growing frustration with mainstream pharmaceuticals prescribed for pain relief. In 1986 — the heyday of the nation’s War on Drugs — 9 percent of the generation of Americans born between 1928 and 1945 supported legalizing marijuana. The survey also showed that it might be time to dig through Grandpa’s golf bag: 19 percent of Americans over 70 have tried weed, including 2 percent in the last year. Perhaps because of the reluctance of seniors to discuss their marijuana habits, neither AARP nor the Marijuana Policy Project could provide any studies of cannabis use by seniors. Twenty cannabis-curious pioneers set up folding chairs near the first tee box at 4 p.m., when they knew most of their golfing neighbors would have already left for cocktail hour, which, like many things in Rossmoor, starts a little early. “People were still not sure if they wanted to be out about (marijuana) then,” said Renee Lee, a 63-year-old retired therapist who is president of the club. Lee was among those who wanted to call themselves the 420 Club, but that reference to the weed smokers’ holiday of April 20 never stuck because, as Lee said, “a lot of people didn’t know what it meant.” More often the notion came from a medical-cannabis-card-carrying neighbor, who would offer a weed-infused lemon drop or a dab of a topical cream. [...] he started rubbing a cannabis-infused topical solution into his wife’s knees to help with her arthritis. “Everybody always shows up 15 minutes early for the meetings,” said Lee, who used cannabis to help her with the aftereffects of acoustic neuroma surgery. Unless maybe it’s coming from members of Rossmoor’s other cannabis club — a group focused less on education and support and more on enjoying the herb’s recreational pleasures. Unlike the Rossmoor Medical Marijuana Education and Support Club, the other group is not officially recognized by the administration. The app-based marijuana delivery service Eaze — which promises cannabis within minutes for card-carrying Bay Area users — said only 2 percent of customers are seniors. Eaze is launching a pilot program with a San Diego senior community to learn how to make it easier for seniors to get deliveries. After accepting an invitation to speak to the club a couple of years ago, the Harborside Health Center arranged for a tour of the Oakland medical cannabis dispensary. State law allows medical cannabis patients to designate someone as a caregiver. Last week’s meeting drew a record 81 members to hear John Malanca, founder of United Patients Group, a website that offers news and information about medical cannabis. Cannabis-using residents there have established a relationship with a Humboldt County grower and created a distribution network in the community that has the administration’s blessing.