U.S. told to prepare for older drug addicts

NEW YORK — Evelyn Barnette first got high when she was 19, and for nearly 40 years hid her marijuana and cocaine use behind a mask of respectability. She began using crack three years ago, and that nearly devoured her soul. Thoughts of suicide finally compelled her to seek help.

So, she sits with others in their 50s and 60s, a circle of peers, speaking of addiction and healing.

"I realized I wanted help," says Barnette, 56, a resident at Odyssey House, an alcohol and drug treatment center in New York City. "But I was older and I felt embarrassed to go into a program with young kids. . . . I was desperate to get into this program."

It is a largely unforeseen consequence of the aging of America. As the elderly population continues to grow and baby boomers move into their senior years, the number of older adults who abuse drugs — from pain pills to marijuana and cocaine — is likely to increase. And the nation should prepare to meet the special needs of older addicts, says Ron Hunsicker of the National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers.

"There's such a huge increase in the number of folks 55 and older happening that we're seeing a lot more people in that group using illegal drugs," says Marvin Seppala, chief medical officer of the Hazelden Foundation, an alcohol and drug rehabilitation center based in Center City, Minn.

Alcohol is the most common substance abused by older adults, followed by prescription drugs, Seppala says. But people 50 and older who entered treatment for heroin abuse rose from 7,000 to 27,000 between 1992 and 2002, according to the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. And those treated for cocaine addiction increased from 3,000 to 13,000.

The administration projects that the number of people 50 and older who will need treatment for alcohol or drugs will nearly triple in the next 15 years, to 4.4 million in 2020 from 1.7 million in 2001.

"What we see is basically a steady trend in terms of alcohol admissions, but it's the illicit drug admissions that have been going up over the last 10 years," says Joe Gfroerer of the substance abuse administration.

The problem crosses ethnic lines, in the suburbs, cities and rural communities, says Robert Higgins of New York state's Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services. Yet drug abuse among seniors is largely hidden. Society is more likely to envision a young man as a cocaine addict or marijuana smoker than an elderly grandmother.

"There's kind of a laissez-faire attitude. 'Why deal with that? He's already 75. Who cares if he keeps using?' " Seppala says. "And the truth is it could hurt significantly."

A key reason for the increase is baby boomers, those born between 1946 and 1964 who often embraced more casual attitudes about marijuana and other drugs. As they age, they may not abandon their drug use or may return to it to cope with loneliness and boredom.

"We're discovering that we're occasionally arresting people in their 40s, 50s and 60s who are making methamphetamine and wanting to get high," says John Benshoff, professor of rehabilitation counseling at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Ill. "It would be unheard of for my 85-year-old mother to pick up a joint. But for someone who used marijuana throughout life ... that might not be so unheard of."