'It's Legal': Today Show Visits Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference For Report On Baby Boomers, Pot

This past week, investors, executives and thought leaders converged at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach resort to network and exchange visions for the cannabis industry during the Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference.

NBC’s Today Show subsidiary visited the conference as part of a feature on rising cannabis use among baby boomers — specifically women and older, more educated, higher-income Americans.

Health, Wellness And Legalization

According to a study cited by Today, marijuana use has spiked 75% among people 65 and older over a four-year period. Interviewees in the Today segment highlighted marijuana’s health and wellness benefits, as well as legalization and normalization in society, as being factors behind increased use.

“A lot of people my age used it in college, and now are using it again that it’s legal,” Ron Silberstein, CEO of Bud's Place Franchising LLC, told Today at the Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference. 

In a reference to medicinal benefits, cannabis investor An Sekaran told Today reporters that younger generations recommend cannabis when they “see the problems their parents are having with pain management.”

Cannabis companies are aware of this shift.

Columbia Care Inc. CCHWF CEO Nicholas Vita said at the conference that the industry is at an inflection point, noting that average consumers no longer fit traditional stereotypes.

Consumers want new solutions that quickly activate and can be ingested in different forms, he said. "People will need to make a choice if they will take a Tylenol or something with cannabis."

Social Equity Push In Illinois

Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, who also appeared at the Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference, spoke about the importance of social equity in legal cannabis. 

“It’s about restorative justice [and] repairing harm done to communities devastated by the failed war on drugs,” she said.

Illinois expunged records for low-level marijuana offenses, increased cannabis business ownership and invested revenue back into communities, Stratton said. 

“If you’re not intentional about social equity at the state levels, a lot of people will continue to be disenfranchised."

Photo by Ebyabe via Wikimedia.