I got this from a television show. I wish I could remember the exact episode, but it was one of those moments that sticks with you because it was funny, uncomfortable, and quietly revealing all at the same time.
The scene takes place in an emergency room. A woman in her seventies is there for pain. Nothing dramatic. No blood, no sirens, just discomfort. The nurse asks what she has been taking for it. The woman answers very casually.
“Oh, I eat a few cookies every few hours.”
The nurse pauses. The doctor looks up.
“A few cookies?” the doctor asks. “How many are you eating in a day?”
The woman shrugs. “Oh, I do not know. Probably a dozen or so. But they are not very big.”
That is when the nurse gently explains that these are marijuana cookies. THC. Edibles. Not oatmeal raisin.
The woman looks genuinely surprised. Not defensive. Not embarrassed. Just surprised. Like someone realizing that the multivitamin they have been taking is actually a sedative.
She says something along the lines of, “Well, they help the pain.”
Then the doctor, very calmly, says something that cuts through the humor.
“There have been some studies showing increased dementia risk with marijuana use in older adults.”
The woman responds, without missing a beat, “Oh, that sucks for old people.”
And the room goes quiet.
That exchange stayed with me because it captures something important about where we are right now. Marijuana use among retirees has increased sharply. Edibles, in particular, are viewed as harmless. No smoke. No stigma. It is framed as natural, relaxing, safer than pills. And in fairness, for some people, it does provide relief.
But what is often missing from the conversation is dosage, frequency, and cumulative effect on an aging brain.
THC today is not the THC of the 1970s. Potency is dramatically higher. Edibles are especially tricky because the onset is delayed. People take more because they do not feel it yet. A cookie every few hours becomes a dozen cookies a day before anyone realizes what is happening.
There is also the reality that the aging brain processes substances differently. Memory, executive function, reaction time, and emotional regulation are already under pressure with age. Adding a psychoactive compound on top of that, day after day, is not neutral. It is not free.
Studies are increasingly asking whether chronic THC exposure in older adults accelerates cognitive decline or worsens early impairment. The research is still evolving, but the questions are real, and they are not being asked loudly enough.
What struck me most about that television scene was not the joke. It was how easy it was for everyone in that room to miss the bigger picture until someone finally said it out loud.
A few cookies every few hours does not sound like much.
Until it is.