America’s addicts are graying

[Roon]

WASHINGTON - America's drug abusers are going gray.

The proportion of people admitted to treatment for drug abuse who are aged 50 or over nearly doubled between 1992 and 2008, a new government study says.

Alcohol is still the leading cause of admissions in this age group, but sharp increases were noted in those needing treatment for heroin, cocaine and marijuana, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration reports Wednesday.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37714145/ns/health-addictions/

[Oregone]

1. Treatment for marijuana....are you fuckn kidding me

"Marijuana is not a drug. I used to suck dick for coke. Now that's an addiction. You ever suck some dick for marijuana?" - Half Baked

[TexasObserver]

2. The funniest line ever uttered by Bob Saget.

[Initech]

10. "These musicians today who don't do drugs and in fact speak out against them... boy they suck!"

RIP Bill Hicks.

[offog]

3. One thing really worries me ...

A lot of these over-50 drug users started using when they were under 25. However, regarding cocaine use, "More than a quarter of these had begun use of the drug within the last five years."

I'd always thought that people over 45 would know better than to start using "hard drugs" like cocaine. Despite all the "war on drugs" education, young people tend to think they're invincible and get hooked that way.

I'm 51 years old and have gone through some tough times the last few years, but no matter how bad things got, I was never tempted to deaden the pain with cocaine, heroin, ecstasy, meth, or whatever because I know they would make my life worse.

Does anyone out there have any information or theories about why a 45-year-old would start using cocaine?

[Lilith Velkor]

4. So they can be energetic and self-confident

In some parts of the corporate world, it's mandatory to be perky-perky-perky all the time, and that can get harder to do once middle age creeps up on ya.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

5. It could be they began using again

It isn't really clear if it's first time use or not. For example, I know a person in this age group who was clean for almost 4-years then began using again 2-years ago. It may be they're referring to similar cases.

[EFerrari]

7. Don't older people have fewer social resources than younger people?

Is that right?

[EC]

8. To get a hard-on..

My late husband, the alkie used to use it to be able to drink more.

[ProgressiveVictory]

9. It would make your life worse and would make you broke! hard drugs are not cheap.

[laughingliberal]

6. No surprise there, at all.

We are the age group who has spent our entire working lives under the policies Reagan put in place which have seen us working harder every year for less return. We've been worked for our entire adult lives to the limits of endurance and have, largely, failed to be able to get ahead or even stay in the same place. Our retirements are not funded by decent pension plans as was the case for a lot of those who made it out before us. Our ability to save for retirement has dwindled with our wages. We have powerful forces amassed gunning for our SS benefit we had, at least, hoped would keep us from starvation when we can no longer work. We have not the security our parents' generation did nor the gift of time to turn things around. As I said, this is no surprise to me and should be no surprise to anyone paying attention to what is happening to our age group.