Generations: The Real Differences Between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers, and Silents—and What They Mean for America's Future

by Jean M. Twenge

Some Boomers are still using marijuana in their middle age and elder adulthood; the experiences of their teen and young adult years are still shaping their behavior as older adults. After changing little for decades, marijuana use among 50- to 64-year-olds skyrocketed just as Boomers aged into the group. The same was true as Boomers aged into the over-65 group (see Figure 3.12). These changes happened during a time when marijuana use did not increase among high school seniors (see Figure 3.11) and began before the legalization of marijuana for recreational use in some states (the first was Colorado in 2014)—both of which suggest that the increase in older adults’ pot use was a generational effect more than anything else.