AGING BOOMERS STIR THE POT

First Generation of Recreational Drug Users Could Affect Health-Care
Costs, Experts Say

Nobody is yet predicting pot parties will outdraw carpet bowling at
the old folks' home when the baby boomers shuffle en masse into
retirement, but counsellors expect recreational drug use among
seniors will raise some questions society has never faced.

The population bulge born between 1946 and 1964 is the first cohort
to use marijuana -- and other illegal substances -- to any degree.
Once frowned upon, drug use has become more normalized by society,
according to Victoria addiction, loss and trauma counsellor Darrell Pacini.

"We're not afraid of marijuana. Most of us have been exposed to it,
dabbled in it or used it for decades," says Victoria addictions
counsellor James Drinkwater.

Although the proportion of seniors who say they use drugs is still
small, the numbers are greater than for previous generations.

As boomers age, Tim Stockwell of the University of Victoria's Centre
for Addiction Research expects to see an increase in recreational
drug use among the pension generation. (Prescription drugs have
always been an issue among seniors, he says.)

After all, boomers aren't completely butting out, according to
surveys by the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Those 50 and older reporting marijuana use in the previous year
jumped from 1.9 per cent in 2002 to 2.9 per cent in 2008, according
to media reports earlier this year. The biggest jump occurred among
the 55- to 59-year-olds, where it more than tripled. Men were more
likely than women to still use marijuana.

The rate of illicit drug use by 50-somethings increased from 2.7 per
cent in 2002 to five per cent in 2007, according to another finding
by the U.S. agency quoted on the Vancouver-based website suite101.com.

Five years ago, Neil Berger of Cobble Hill's Cedars residential
treatment centre was stunned to find 50-somethings whose drug of
choice was crack cocaine.

"Certainly, you wouldn't have seen that 10 years ago," he says.

Still, Berger has boomer clients for whom marijuana is the problem.
So does Lorne Hildebrand of Nanaimo's Edgewood residential treatment centre.

The reason some boomers continue to use drugs is easier to grasp than
what impact longtime use will have on their health -- and the
health-care system. "I think it will become a bigger issue when more
and more effects become demonstrated," Stockwell predicts.

The boomer cohort is oriented toward drugs, Drinkwater says. They are
less likely to put up with any discomfort or pain than their parents'
generation.

Drinkwater doesn't think recreational drug use will morph into a wave
of addiction as boomers join the ranks of seniors.

It would have surfaced already for those predisposed to addiction.

Hildebrand isn't so sure, using alcohol as an example. Some can mask
their drinking enough to show up for work and perform every day. But
that changes once they retire, he says.

Alcohol has a direct effect on the health-care system, according to
Stockwell. He cites a 2008 study that said 20,000 acute-care hospital
beds in the province were occupied by those whose presence could be
linked to alcohol. There are 60 types of injuries and illnesses that
stem from alcohol use, he says.

Similar studies have not been done of possible links between
long-term recreational drug use and individual health and heath-care
costs. That likely will change in another 10 or 20 years as the
boomers age, according to Stockwell. This is a large cohort that over
time used a wide variety of psychoactive substances other than just
alcohol and prescription drugs, he says.

He predicts the long-term use will surface as a problem when more of
its effects become demonstrated. There's a popular perception that
cannabis is harmless, to the point that Stockwell always sparks a
strong reaction when he publicly says anything negative about cannabis.

"Everyone says, 'Marijuana is perfectly harmless.' It isn't," Hildebrand says.

Both he and Berger cite everything from the impact of carcinogens to
cognitive problems. Pacini cites its effect on mood, emotion and concentration.

"As we get older, it's going to be a problem -- more of a problem
than it is now," Berger says. Aging boomer bodies won't be able to
handle the toxic substances the way they once did in their 30s. In
addition, what they smoked in their 30s was considerably less potent
than the cannabis available now.

Cognitive decline is already associated with aging. What won't be
known until enough boomers are well into their senior years is if
long-term drug use accelerates such things as dementia. Berger
predicts it likely will.

"It stands to reason."