News / Education
The Aging of Drug Rehab- Older Drug Addicts
Older Adults Finding Themselves With Need of Drug Rehab
While it is true that one third of adults between the ages of 18 and 25 report past illicit drug use, a growing number of drug addicts are found in the so-called “Golden Years”- ages 50 through 59.
“Drug addiction does not discriminate between age, gender, or socio-economic status,” comments Mary Rieser, Executive Director for Narconon Drug Rehab. “Most people think of this as a wiser and pragmatic age. However, the number of adults over 50 who report using illicit drugs in the past year has almost doubled since 2002.
“Prescription drug abuse is a common factor of drug addiction in this age group- given prescriptions to handle an ailing and aging body, in many cases these grandparents are not advised of the potential for drug abuse, and soon become addicted.”
Illicit drug use among older adults has increased in recent years, according to data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH). The percentage of adults ages 50 to 59 who reported using at least one illicit drug* in the past year—primarily marijuana and nonmedical use of prescription drugs—increased from 5.1% in 2002 to 9.4% in 2007 (the most recent year for which data are available).
Additional analyses show that this trend was driven by the aging of the baby boom generation—those born between 1946 and 1964. This cohort has a much higher lifetime illicit drug use rate than earlier cohorts and represents an increasing proportion of persons ages 50 to 59.
The rate of illicit drug use among this age group, however, remains lower than that of other age groups. For example, 33% of adults ages 18 to 25 and 19% of youths ages 12 to 17 reported past year illicit drug use in 2007 (data not shown).
Noting that the future treatment needs of this population has become a growing public health concern, the authors stress the importance of developing effective primary care screening and intervention strategies and expanding substance abuse treatment programs to address the growing needs of this population.
Source: CESAR, the Center for Substance Abuse Research in the University of Maryland.
