Scary News on Senior Drug Abuse

Drug and alcohol abuse among Americans aged 50 and older has risen sharply in recent years according to a study released by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, a unit of the Department of Health and Human Services.

The data indicated that hospital admissions for drug abuse treatment nearly doubled in this age group between 1992 and 2008.

A breakdown of the admissions data also revealed a shift away from alcohol to prescription and illicit drugs including heroin and cocaine, as well as a rising incidence of multiple drug abuse. The proportion of older Americans seeking help for abusing multiple substances nearly tripled from 13.7% in 1992 to 39.7% in 2008.

The three most abused prescription pain drugs between 2004 and 2008 were:
• Oxycodone, evidenced by a 152% increase in non-medical use emergency room visits;
• Hydrocodone, whose emergency room visits rose 123%; and
• Methadone that saw a 73% increase in emergency visits.

Researchers believe the increase could be partly due to a higher number of prescriptions for pain killing medications being written by doctors.

“The findings reported here highlight the need to strengthen prevention and education programs designed to reduce the misuse of prescription drugs,” the report says.

You can read the full story as reported by WebMD here.

Come back tomorrow for Jean’s Take on the Report.

Tags: senior drug abuse, increase in drug abuse, abuse of prescription painkillers, avoid early disability, the elephant in the room, addictions, disability of addiction