Scripps Howard News Service reports this week on the surprising number of Boomers who haven’t lost their youthful drug habits–or are revisiting them. The statistics on drug abuse among older Americans are surprising and sobering: 400,000 Boomer-aged patients have been treated in hospital emergency rooms for overdoses. Citing federal data, the news service reports that in 2003, Boomers accounted for half of all deaths from drug-related causes, mostly from overdoses:

One of the few comprehensive studies of the problem found that 3 million Americans older than 50 in 2004 had used illicit drugs such as marijuana, cocaine or heroin, or had misused anti-anxiety, anti-depression or other prescription drugs. Research by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration estimates that number could more than double by 2020.

In a separate report earlier this year, Scripps Howard noted Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data pointing toward abuse of certain prescription medications, psychotherapy medications and cocaine. The data point to an under-reported health care issue for older Americans that could balloon in the years ahead.

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