Surge in Older Adult Drug Abuse
Much attention has recently been focused on the rise of prescription drug abuse by those in their later years. Interestingly, the baby boomer generation is playing a big role in this surge as it adds to the trend the use of marijuana. A recent government study indicated that more than 4 million adults over the age of 50 are smoking marijuana and abusing prescription drugs. The study further describes how the rates of abuse among the 50+ age group almost doubled between 2002 and 2007. Even more troubling is that the government report says that over the next two decades, with the baby boomer generation aging more, the number of older adults using drugs will increase even more. This dramatic increase will demand more treatment services for this generation and the demand is only continuing to rise.
The report, based on data collected during 2006-2008 from almost 20,000 U.S. adults born between 1946 and 1964, found that marijuana use was more prevalent among those aged 50 to 59, while prescription drug abuse was more common in those 65 and older, as indicated by Madeline Ellis of Health News. Further, the new report shows that more men than women (8.5 percent vs. 3.9 percent) aged 50 to 54 indicated using marijuana in the previous year. However, less than 1 percent of older adults said they had used drugs other than marijuana or prescription medications. This is an interesting finding in that heroin, meth, and other substance abuse is on the rise, but the baby boomer generation prefers marijuana and prescriptions.
It’s becoming apparent that many of the baby boomers who picked up drug habits in their teens never stopped and matured into adulthood while continuing to use drugs. Quoting Dr. Ihsan M Salloum, chief of the Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse: Treatment and Research at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, “This is becoming more and more apparent in practice. You have both prescription drugs being used that people can become addicted to and also people who have had a pattern of use from before.”
So, for many baby boomer and older adults, this pattern of drug abuse is proving difficult to break. Many of these individuals were used to smoking a joint to calm them down to sleep when they were younger. Now, they’ve simply just switched to sleeping pills to help with this and other pills to help deal with other things in their lives. It is obvious that both drug treatment centers and medical facilities need to be ready for this surge of older adults continuing to use drugs. Finding solutions for this age group may prove challenging since the addictions of these individuals will be so long term in comparison to the new addictions many treatment centers are used to treating people for.