GRANDMA'S ADDICTION

IT seems kids in America aren't the only ones with drug and substance abuse
problems. Grandma - long teased for hiding a whiskey flask under her
rocking chair may be covering up a substance abuse problem of her own.

"Kids and drugs" is a topic that's glamorized and sensationalized by the
media. Yet Grandma's substance abuse problem is not seen as being pretty,
glamorous, dangerous or in any other way attractive, in fact, it's a
problem we as a society seem content to ignore or shove out of view.

The latest data on this subject come to us from Columbia University's
National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse. A CASA report released
this month shows that almost 2 million women above the age of 59 are
addicted to alcohol and almost 3 million abuse or are addicted to
prescription drugs.

Worse yet, when physicians are presented with older female patients who
display classic symptoms of prescription drug or alcohol abuse, fewer than
1 percent of them properly diagnose the condition. Instead, they
misdiagnose the symptoms -- depression and prescribe even more drugs as the
"cure."

When older drug-addicted women are fortunate enough to find doctors who
properly diagnose their conditions and refer them to substance abuse
counseling or treatment centers, one-fifth of those surveyed by CASA say
their health insurers refused to cover the cost of treatment.

As one who has often thought that our "war on drugs" is an overblown,
politicized effort that can never succeed at much except garnering
publicity for vote-hungiy politicians and spending money that might more
productively go for education and jobs, I am doubly dismayed by the
information in the CASA report. Clearly, a cocaine habit is a serious
problem that must be dealt with. But equally so is an addiction to martinis
or tranquilizers. And because the former tends to manifest itself in young
people and the latter in older women, we pay endless attention to the kids
and little if any to Grandma.

It's time to turn that around, as well as our attitudes toward what
constitutes drug abuse and who is most vulnerable to it. The CASA survey
reveals that the average woman over 59 is taking a combination of five
drugs. Doctors need to stop thinking of older women as pill boxes and start
looking at them as valuable human beings.

A good place to start is in medical school. Doctors surveyed by CASA
reported they spent one day or less being trained to understand, diagnose
and treat substance abuse. Medical schools need to make this a routine
component of any young physician's training.

Insurance companies need to change their exiguous attitude toward drug
rehabilitation programs and recognize the financial and emotional benefits
of treatment CASA's report shows without doubt that treatment programs are
a whole lot cheaper than the alternative.

It costs an average of $1,800 to put an older woman through a substance
abuse rehabilitation program. It costs almost $16,000 to treat her in a
hospital when she overdoses or comes close to death.

Finally, we all need to express to the grandmas and older women in our
lives bow much they matter to us. They are not just there to comfort us
when we are in need or to remember our birthdays. They're to be respected
for their love and wisdom and valued for their wealth of experience.

They're to be made to feel precious and important, not old and used up. If
we can just make them recognize their own self-worth, perhaps the need to
resort to drugs and alcohol to kill the pain of older age won't be quite so
pressing as it seems to be now.

Bonnie Erbe, host of the PBS program "To the Contary," writes for Scripps
Howard News Service. Her E-mail address is 102404.3317@CompuServe.com

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski