AGING ADDICTS

In his 60s, Ramon Loper spent the last few years of his musical career
desperately feeding a heroin addiction. He rushed from gig to gig,
getting cash and getting high.

"And then," he says, "I broke my hip. Thank God!"

The members of his group session erupt with laughter. A chorus of "Thank
God!" rings out.

Loper is a client in the ElderCare program at Odyssey House -- one of
the few residential drug treatment programs in the country specifically
designed to treat the growing population of older substance abusers.
Everyone here understands how a broken hip can be a blessing in breaking
the cycle of drug abuse.

From a well-kept brick building in East Harlem, the 50-bed Odyssey House
treats recovering addicts of all ages. But the building's fourth floor
is reserved for ElderCare, which accepts only people age 55 and older.

These are people who typically feel uncomfortable being candid and
confronting their problems in most treatment programs, where
participants are usually aged 18 to 44 and sometimes younger.

Peer Groups Help With Cure

Odyssey staff say the close peer relationships allow older people --
many of whom have had addictions for decades -- to finally recover.
Residents typically stay in the program for 12 months or more, living in
same-sex suites with several other clients.

"You put peers together and you allow them to live together, to support
one another, to grow together, to share their stories, their pain, their
hopes," said Peter Provet, the president of Odyssey House.

The publicly funded Odyssey House, founded in 1967, is widely known for
a program that allows recovering mothers to live with their children
while in treatment. The ElderCare program was founded in 1997, when
staffers began to see a small but increasing number of older adults
seeking treatment.

Manuela Bookman, 58, is recovering from a 35-year cocaine addiction. The
courts referred her to ElderCare after she was arrested on a
drug-dealing charge.

"When I was first offered the program, the first thing that came to my
mind was 'I can't deal with all these young kids. They're
disrespectful,"' Bookman said. "They told me, 'No, you're only going to
be with people your age, people who can identify with you.' It sounded
OK to me."

Provet said the program started with a few beds grouped together on the
fourth floor. Now, there are always several people on a waiting list to
get in.

Small Percentage Treated

The number of older adults being treated for substance abuse in the
country is small -- 1.6 percent of the more than one million substance
abuse clients in the nation -- but has grown steadily over the last
decade, according to Leah Young, a spokeswoman for the Center for
Substance Abuse Treatment, a federal agency.

The center reports that in 1991, 8,206 clients over the age of 65 were
in substance abuse treatment in the United States. By 1998, the number
had nearly doubled to 16,247. Young said older adults are more likely to
abuse alcohol or prescription drugs, but a persistent number is addicted
to "hard" drugs like cocaine or heroin.

"The abuse of illicit drugs in the country has been growing, and you
would assume that most of these people will stop before they get to that
point," said Herbert Kleber, director of Columbia University's Center on
Addiction and Substance Abuse. "But as you increase the total number,
some will end up staying on (drugs) into their older years."

Bertie Alston, for instance.

"Aren't drugs a young person's game?" an Odyssey House counselor asked.
"Yes, but I started as a young person," replied Alston, 58, who has
spent 36 years addicted to heroin.

Although the federal government doesn't track exactly how many treatment
centers nationwide are geared specifically for older adults, Young said
there are very few. One, the Hanley-Hazelden Center in West Palm Beach,
Fla., is a 16-bed facility for mostly alcohol and prescription drug
abusers.

Problem Not Discussed Openly

Carol Colleran, director of older adult services at Hanley-Hazelden,
said thousands have gone through its 30-day program, but addiction in
older adults remains a largely undiscussed problem.

"People shy away from talking about it," Colleran said. "It's really
difficult to put a nice little gray-haired grandma in the same sentence
that you're talking about alcoholism or drug abuse."

Colleran said treatment for older adults is less confrontational than
therapy for younger people, and that older people -- who did not grow up
in what she calls the "self-help" era -- have more trouble talking about
their feelings.

"People of this generation were not raised to air their dirty laundry,"
Colleran said.

Provet said treatment in the Odyssey House program addresses such
life-stage questions as "What have I done in my life?" and "What
mistakes have I made, and how can I correct those mistakes?" But the
program succeeds, he said, because residents are able share their life
experiences -- and empathize with one another.

In a late March treatment session, Julius Small, a recovering alcoholic,
told the group he had recently celebrated a birthday.

"I made 70 on the second day of this month," he says.

The room erupts with applause. It is this kind of support, Provet says,
that allows older people to recover.

"We firmly believe that these folks that come to us after suffering for
many, many years of their lives can make good," Provet said. "We do not
want, in any way, to write off our elders."

More than 100 people have completed the ElderCare program at Odyssey
House since 1997. Before a resident leaves, he or she creates an
"after-care plan" that includes plans for housing, identifies a support
network, and works toward independence and financial stability.

When he leaves, Loper said, he would like to counsel other former
addicts. Bookman says she will help take care of her grandchildren so
her daughter can complete a college degree.

"I finally am able to look at myself in the mirror and see a human
being," Bookman says, "instead of what I was looking at before."