Small but growing number of seniors using drugs...

[Alison Myrden]

Check this out....

 

not sure why this didn't post the first time...

 

Lemme try this again...

 

Ali

xx

 

 

 

Seems the Seniors are finding what REALLY works...

 

Good on' em...

 

 

Love and stuff,

 

 

Alison

xx

 

 

 

 

 

Small but growing number of seniors using drugs

 

Updated Sun. May. 13 2007 10:01 PM ET

 

CTV.ca News Staff

 

Seniors constitute the fastest growing population group in Canada, and

some of them use illicit drugs. Researchers say older adults tend to

be an under-recognized group of drug users but it's a trend that needs

study and attention.

 

Mavis Becker is a senior who enjoys drugs. The Vancouverite, who's

about to turn 65, says she has a lot of stress on her plate, caring

for her 93-year-old father who suffers from dementia. When she gets

wound up, Mavis rolls herself a joint.

 

"I do have a habit of getting on the hyper side. And I find if I go

out on my balcony and smoke a doobie, I feel way more relaxed and I

don't get too excited about it," she says.

 

"I hope my grandchildren will be willing to roll a doobie for me if my

arthritis gets too bad," says Becker.

 

It seems that the baby boomers who discovered recreational drugs

decades ago are bringing them along into their golden years, saying

they don't intend to stop just because they are older. The numbers of

seniors using illicit drugs are likely small but seem to be increasing.

 

"This idea that a grandmother or grandfather doing drugs, while it

doesn't quite fit the stereotype, yes, this is an emerging trend,"

says Charmaine Spencer, a member of Simon Fraser University's

Gerontology Research Centre.

 

Researchers say they are seeing more pot smokers in nursing homes, as

well as cocaine and crack users in long-term care facilities.

 

One nursing home resident, who spoke to CTV News and asked not to be

identified, says he has used cocaine and marijuana and says many other

seniors he knows do too.

 

"Marijuana, it calms you down. It makes you eat good and sleep good,"

he says.

 

Some seniors use drugs legally, prescribed as a medicine. But a recent

national survey reported about one per cent of seniors report using

marijuana recreationally. Many suspect the number is larger.

 

Some of these adults are discovering drugs for the first time in their

older years, turning them to help them with physical aches and pains

that come with age, or as a way to escape loneliness or emotional pain.

 

"They are self-medicating in a safe way, and they are not coming to

our attention because they are using it successfully," says outreach

worker Marilyn White-Campbell.

 

Some who use drugs to mask the isolation become addicted to harder

drugs and prescription pills, leading to dementia, falls and even death.

 

"There are signs and symptoms to look for. But if you are not even

imagining older adults can even possibly use these kind of substances,

they will go completely undetected," says Robert Eves of Community

Outreach Program in Addiction.

 

According to the Canadian Addiction Survey, 12.8 per cent of Canadians

aged 64-74 have used marijuana in their lifetime. But among those aged

44-54 -- the seniors of the future -- a much larger percentage of 50.1

per cent have used drugs.

 

If the trend continues as many expect it will, nursing homes will need

to deal with the question about what to do with residents who want to

use drugs.

 

And addiction counselors say special drug treatment and prevention

programs customized for seniors may have to be created.

 

With a report from CTV's Avis Favaro and Elizabeth St. Philip

[urbanfarmer]

Bring it on, now I can call my favorite hobby "future planning"!

[Jess Stone]

Being almost an oldy myself I say what BS.A growing number ,well I have never stopped ,most of my middle-age and "oldy" friends have never stopped , as i said bullshit ! Edited May 17, 2007 by Jess Stone