WASHINGTON DC – Baby Boomers aren’t just using more marijuana. They’re becoming big business for cannabis companies.

Older consumers could already represent a roughly $500 million annual cannabis market in Michigan and Ohio, according to a MITechNews analysis of state cannabis sales and national purchasing patterns.

And new federal research suggests that market could continue growing.

Nearly 22 percent of Americans ages 55 to 65 consumed cannabis during the previous year, according to the latest Monitoring the Future survey compiled by the University of Michigan and highlighted by NORML. That’s the highest percentage ever recorded by the survey.

Fifteen percent reported consuming cannabis during the previous 30 days.

For Michigan’s struggling marijuana industry, the aging cannabis customer could be particularly important.

Michigan has spent years wrestling with too much marijuana chasing too few customers. Production has soared, prices have plunged and intense competition has squeezed growers, processors and dispensaries.

But what if Michigan still doesn’t have all of its customers?

Michigan Boomers Could Be A $400 Million Market

Baby Boomers accounted for about 12.6 percent of tracked U.S. cannabis spending during the 12 months ending in June 2026, according to cannabis market data attributed to Headset.

Millennials remained the industry’s biggest customers, accounting for 42.8 percent of spending, followed by Generation X at 23.5 percent, Generation Z at 21.2 percent and Baby Boomers at 12.6 percent.

Apply that 12.6 percent share to Michigan’s approximately $3.17 billion in cannabis sales during 2025 and the potential size of Michigan’s Baby Boomer market comes to approximately:

$399 million a year.

That is a MITechNews estimate, not a figure reported by the Michigan Cannabis Regulatory Agency. Michigan does not publish cannabis sales broken down by customer generation.

But separate University of Michigan research provides evidence that older Michiganders already are significant cannabis consumers.

The Michigan Poll on Healthy Aging found that 27 percent of Michigan residents age 50 and older consumed THC-containing cannabis during the previous year, compared with 21 percent of adults 50 and older nationally.

Seventeen percent of Michiganders 50 and older used cannabis at least monthly, 14 percent used it weekly and 9 percent used it daily or almost daily.

That suggests Michigan’s older cannabis market is already substantial — and potentially still growing.

Ohio Could Add Another $100 Million-Plus

Ohio provides another large potential market.

Ohio recreational marijuana sales exceeded $836 million in 2025, the state’s first full calendar year of adult-use sales.

Applying the same 12.6 percent national Baby Boomer spending share would produce approximately:

$105 million in annual Baby Boomer recreational cannabis purchases.

Again, that’s an estimate rather than an Ohio state statistic.

Put Michigan and Ohio together and the calculation produces a Baby Boomer cannabis market of roughly $504 million annually.

The estimate also may be conservative on the Ohio side because it uses only recreational sales. Ohio recorded another roughly $233 million in medical marijuana sales during 2025.

Ohio’s recreational market also is much younger than Michigan’s, meaning the state’s cannabis customer base is still developing.

Why This Matters To Michigan

Michigan’s cannabis industry could use new customers.

Cannabis retailers sold about $3.17 billion worth of marijuana products in 2025, down approximately $113 million from 2024 even though consumers purchased more product.

The reason was falling prices.

Michigan has become one of America’s cheapest cannabis markets. The average retail price for an ounce of flower dropped below $60 in early 2026.

The result is a strange marketplace: Michigan consumers are buying enormous quantities of cannabis while many of the businesses selling it are struggling to make money.

The state’s new 24 percent wholesale marijuana tax, which took effect Jan. 1, has added another financial challenge.

Much of the industry’s discussion about fixing Michigan’s cannabis imbalance has focused on reducing production, consolidating businesses or eventually allowing marijuana to cross state lines if federal law changes.

But there is another potential solution:

Sell cannabis to more Michiganders.

Baby Boomers could become an important source of that additional demand.

Boomers Aren’t Necessarily Shopping Like Millennials

The opportunity isn’t simply convincing older people to buy more marijuana flower.

Older adults often consume cannabis for very different reasons.

The University of Michigan National Poll on Healthy Aging found that among cannabis consumers age 50 and older:

  • 81 percent used it to relax.
  • 68 percent used it to help with sleep.
  • 64 percent used it because they enjoyed the effects.
  • 63 percent used it for pain relief.
  • 53 percent used it for mental health or mood.
  • 40 percent said they used cannabis in an attempt to treat a medical condition.

Those motivations could reshape what cannabis companies sell.

Older customers may be interested in gummies and other edibles, tinctures, topicals, lower-dose products and combinations of THC and CBD rather than simply buying the highest-potency marijuana available.

They also may value something increasingly difficult to compete on in Michigan’s price-driven market:

Service.

Someone returning to marijuana after 30 or 40 years may need considerably more guidance than an experienced cannabis consumer.

Today’s dispensary shelves contain flower, concentrates, vape cartridges, gummies, beverages, tinctures and numerous combinations of THC and CBD.

For dispensaries, educating older customers could become as important as selling to them.

Cannabis Companies Are Starting To Notice

The broader cannabis industry is beginning to recognize the demographic shift.

Marketing efforts aimed specifically at seniors are appearing, including cannabis education events, products promoted toward older consumers and even simplified retail technology designed for people unfamiliar with modern dispensaries.

But the market remains far less developed than cannabis marketing aimed at Millennials and Generation X.

That creates an opportunity for Michigan and Ohio businesses to build relationships with older customers before the market becomes crowded.

Michigan may have an additional advantage.

Cannabis is inexpensive, dispensaries are plentiful and recreational marijuana has been legally available since December 2019.

Ohio’s recreational market, meanwhile, is still developing after adult-use sales began in August 2024.

That means the two neighboring states could become an interesting experiment in how the cannabis industry develops its aging customer base.

Today’s Marijuana Isn’t The Marijuana Boomers Remember

There is an important health warning accompanying the business opportunity.

Today’s marijuana can contain much higher concentrations of THC than cannabis available during the 1960s, 1970s or 1980s.

The University of Michigan poll found 83 percent of Michigan adults 50 and older agreed cannabis is stronger today than it was 20 or 30 years ago.

Older consumers also are more likely to take prescription medications, increasing concerns about possible drug interactions.

Among Michigan cannabis consumers age 50 and older, 21 percent reported driving within two hours of consuming cannabis at least once during the previous year.

Among Michigan adults consuming cannabis at least monthly, 64 percent said they had discussed their cannabis use with a health care provider.

That means more than one-third had not.

Cannabis businesses also must avoid making unsupported medical claims about products intended for sleep, pain or other health conditions.

Education therefore could become an increasingly important part of serving this demographic.

The Next Big Cannabis Customer Could Be 65

Baby Boomers aren’t going to magically eliminate Michigan’s marijuana oversupply.

But they challenge one of the assumptions underlying the industry’s problems — that Michigan already has essentially all the cannabis customers it is going to get.

The data suggest otherwise.

Older Michiganders already use cannabis at higher rates than their peers nationally. Nearly 22 percent of Americans ages 55 to 65 now report consuming cannabis during the previous year. And Baby Boomers already account for a meaningful share of national cannabis spending.

Using current sales and national purchasing patterns, Michigan and Ohio Boomers could already represent a half-billion-dollar annual cannabis market.

And that market could continue growing as marijuana becomes more socially acceptable among older Americans.

For Michigan cannabis companies desperately searching for new customers and better margins — and Ohio businesses still building their recreational market — the next big cannabis customer may not be 25.

They may be 65.