Pubdate: Sun, 13 Apr 2014
Source: Boston Globe (MA)
Copyright: 2014 Globe Newspaper Company
Contact: http://services.bostonglobe.com/news/opeds/letter.aspx?id=6340
Website: http://bostonglobe.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/52
Author: Robert Weisman
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?420 (Cannabis - Popular)

ARE BABY BOOMERS READY TO GIVE MARIJUANA A SECOND CHANCE?

Are aging baby boomers ready to rekindle a long-ago love affair with marijuana?

That is a weighty question for cultural anthropologists and cool-eyed 
business analysts alike as the once celebrated, later maligned, but 
explicitly contraband cannabis plant goes legit - for the first time 
in nearly 80 years - in a new era of medical and recreational use.

For many who smoked marijuana in their dorms in the '60s and '70s, it 
was an act of rebellion, a communal experience, and maybe a political 
statement. Today's product is more likely to be marketed as 
anti-inflammatory than anti-establishment. And, to the distinct 
discomfort of some, it may come in a neat corporate package rather 
than an illicit nickel bag.

"I remember the smoke-filled theaters of our college years," said 
Kathryn Maynes, 57, a Beacon Hill boomer who works for a real estate 
development firm. "There was the obligatory 'Reefer Madness' (film) 
on the screen and people blowing weed. It was very sociable. You 
didn't just light up and have a joint to yourself. It was inclusive, 
it was friendly."

Maynes, however, gave up marijuana in her 20s and never returned, 
partly because it left her with feelings of anxiety.

"If it were legalized tomorrow for recreational use, I would think 
twice about it," Maynes said. "If I did it, it would only be with 
people I really trust."

In fact, 20 states, including Massachusetts, already have legalized 
marijuana for medical purposes, while Colorado and Washington state 
have made recreational marijuana legal. Fully three quarters of 
Americans have told pollsters that they now see legalization for 
recreational use as inevitable, according to Martin A. Lee, director 
of Project CBD, a medical marijuana information service, and author 
of "Smoke Signals," a social history of marijuana.

"On a cultural level, the debate is virtually over," said Lee. "It's 
widely recognized that marijuana has health benefits. For baby 
boomers who got high in the '60s and '70s, their experience was 
largely benign. And now it's becoming mainstream. It's not just 
long-haired rebels and stoners. It's Mom and Dad, Republicans and 
Democrats, a real slice of America."

Marijuana's use for medicinal purposes dates back to ancient China. 
In the United States, it was used in a variety of treatments from the 
1850s to the 1930s when, after getting snared in the Prohibition-era 
dragnet, it was made illegal.

The plant was formally removed from the US Dispensatory, a compendium 
of medicines, in 1942. But after a resurgence among hippies and 
college students in the 1960s, it emerged as a popular, though 
illegal, treatment in the 1980s for AIDS patients who found it could 
dull pain, stimulate appetite, and relieve nausea. That inspired a 
campaign to legalize or decriminalize medical marijuana in California 
and other states.

Since then, "it's sort of been a U-turn back to the time when 
marijuana was widely used in medicine," Lee said. The momentum was 
aided by a rediscovery of strains containing cannabidiol, called CBD, 
a marijuana component with low levels of the psychoactive agent THC. 
That has made it more appealing as a therapy for treating diseases 
ranging from cancer and Alzheimer's to diabetes, cardiovascular 
disease, chronic pain, alcoholism, psychosis, and depression.

Studies project the growth of a $10 billion legal marijuana industry 
by 2018, and entrepreneurs and investors are scrambling to 
capitalize. In addition to growers and sellers, support services and 
enabling technologies have been cropping up in the emerging niche.

"We've developed two products that can help the baby boom generation 
adapt to all of the choices out there," said David Goldstein, 
communications director for Potbotics, a Palo Alto, Calif., startup. 
"A lot of them feel overwhelmed by the consumer buying process."

Later this year, Potbotics plans to launch BrainBot, a high-frequency 
monitoring system that can be used in doctors' offices to evaluate 
the brain's reaction to marijuana and recommend which strains might 
reduce anxiety or eliminate insomnia for specific patients. The 
company also plans to roll out PotBot, a recommendation engine in the 
form of an avatar that can suggest marijuana options for medical and 
recreational uses.

"You don't need a doctor to talk to the avatar," Goldstein said, 
suggesting an older generation may see a "paradigm shift" in how 
marijuana is viewed in popular culture.

"In the past, baby boomers used marijuana for the same reason they 
didn't want their kids to use it. They were abusing the substance. 
But with the end of prohibition, everything's been going in a good 
direction," Goldstein said. "We're giving jobs to taxpaying Americans 
rather than the black market or Mexican cartels."

Younger generations may have fewer qualms about the emerging 
marijuana business.

Justin Desjardins, a 35-year-old Worcester man who works for a 
renewable energy firm, said his high school basketball career was 
ended when he was caught with marijuana, which he considered a 
victimless crime. More recently, after he injured his leg playing 
football at a family gathering, he said he has used it medically to 
help him cope with arthritis.

"I always thought that you should just make it legal," Desjardins 
said. "People are finding out it's somewhat of a miracle drug. I have 
no problem with it going corporate if it means you won't ruin 
people's lives if they got caught with a couple of joints."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom