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 Chris Cooper had something else to consider - marijuana laws.
The investment adviser from Toledo had long struggled with back pain
due to a fractured vertebra and crushed disc from a fall. He hated
powerful prescription drugs like Vicodin, but one thing did help
ease the pain and spasms: marijuana.
So when Cooper, 57, was looking for a place to retire, he ended up
in San Diego, since California allows medical marijuana. A growing
number of retirees are also factoring in the legalization of pot
when choosing where to spend their golden years.
"Stores are packed with every type of person you can imagine," said
Cooper who takes marijuana once or twice a week, often orally.
"There are old men in wheelchairs, or women whose hair is falling
out from chemotherapy. You see literally everybody."
Cooper, who figures he spends about $150 on the drug each month, is
not alone in retiring to a marijuana-friendly state.
Twenty-three states and the District of Columbia have laws
legalizing medical marijuana use. A handful - Colorado, Oregon,
Washington, Alaska, and D.C. - allow recreational use as well.
The U.S. legal marijuana market was $2.7 billion in 2014, a figure
expected to rise to $3.4 billion this year, according to ArcView
Market Research.
Figuring out how many people are retiring to states that let you
smoke pot is challenging since retirees do not have to check off a
box on a form saying why they chose a particular location to their
final years.
But "there is anecdotal evidence that people with health conditions
which medical marijuana could help treat, are relocating to states
with legalized marijuana," said Michael Stoll, a professor of public
policy at University of California, Los Angeles who studies retiree
migration trends.
He cited data from United Van Lines, which show the top U.S. moving
destinations in 2014 was Oregon, where marijuana had been expected
to be legalized for several years and finally passed a ballot
initiative last November.
Two-thirds of moves involving Oregon last year were inbound. That is
a 5 percent jump over the previous year, as the state "continues to
pull away from the pack," the moving company said in a report.
The Mountain West - including Colorado, which legalized medical
marijuana in 2000, and recreational use in 2012 - boasted the
highest percentage of people moving there to retire, United Van
Lines said. One-third of movers to the region said they were going
there specifically to retire.
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LINING UP FOR POT
The image of marijuana-using seniors might seem strange, but it is
the byproduct of a graying counterculture. Much of the baby boom
generation was in college during the 1960s and 70s, and have had
much more familiarity with the drug than previous generations.
Many of the health afflictions of older Americans push them to seek
out dispensaries for relief.
"A lot of the things marijuana is best at are conditions which
become more of an issue as you get older," said Taylor West, deputy
director of the Denver-based National Cannabis Industry Association.
"Chronic pain, inflammation, insomnia, loss of appetite: All of
those things are widespread among seniors."
Since those in their 60s and 70s presumably have no desire to be
skulking around on the criminal market in states where usage is
outlawed, it makes sense they would gravitate to states where
marijuana is legal.
"In Colorado, since legalization, many dispensaries have seen the
largest portion of sales going to baby boomers and people of
retirement age," West said.
The folks at the sales counters agree: Their clientele has proven to
be surprisingly mature.
"Our demographic is not punk kids," added Karl Keich, founder of
Seattle Medical Marijuana Association, a collective garden in
Washington State. "About half of the people coming into our shop are
seniors. It's a place where your mother or grandmother can come in
and feel safe."
(Reporting by Chris Taylor; Editing by Beth Pinsker, Lauren Young
and Richard Chang)
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