ILLICIT DRUG USE GROWS AMONG THE ELDERLY

As baby boomers age, they are bringing old habits with them, posing a
problem for drug-treatment centers.

NEW YORK - Susie Richardson is not your average recovering addict.

She was 50 years old when curiosity got the better of her and she
tried crack cocaine. The result was a "devastating" addiction that
for 10 years robbed her of her family's trust and her own dignity. "I
had no control over myself," she says quietly. "My husband and kids,
they would give me money for bills and instead I spent it on drugs."

Today, after 27 months in a rehabilitation community, Ms. Richardson
is clean, sober, and a role model for the more than 50 senior
citizens that are battling illicit drug and alcohol addictions at the
ElderCare Program at Odyssey House in Manhattan.

Surprising? That's because they're part of what health officials call
an "invisible epidemic" of substance abuse that affects an estimated
17 percent of America's senior citizens. The vast majority abuse
alcohol and prescription medication. But an increasing number are
battling cocaine, heroin, and marijuana addictions as well.

The scale of the problem The federal government's National Household
Survey on Drug Abuse estimates that 568,000 people aged 55 or older
used illegal drugs in the past month. During the next decade, as the
baby boomers age, that number is expected to increase significantly.
The reason is that the boomer generation used more illicit drugs and
alcohol than their parents, and many are bringing those habits with
them into their later years.

"The baby-boomer generation will be eligible for Social Security in
just six years, and we expect there will be a lot more problems
emerging in the not-too-distant future," says Frederic Blow, an
expert on drug abuse by the elderly at the University of Michigan.

That will present a significant challenge to the public-health
system, already struggling with the unique obstacles that older
people like Ms. Richardson present. The first is that older addicts
are far more difficult to identify than younger substance abusers.
Their problems often become evident at work, or in run-ins with the
criminal-justice system. Older people tend to be retired and aren't
as likely to rob the corner store as their younger cohorts.

Then there's the stigma. Alcohol and drug abuse are far more likely
to be perceived as moral failings in older adults.

"They are more likely to hide their substance abuse and less likely
to seek professional help," says Westley Clark, director of the
Center for Substance Abuse and Treatment in Washington. "And
relatives of elders with substance-abuse problems are often not
willing to confront them."

Once they are identified, there's the problem of finding appropriate
treatment. It's estimated that only 1 in 10 addicts who need
treatment get it in America today. There are even fewer services
designed for older adults, who are often coping with other problems
at the end of their lives.

Odyssey House has the only long-term therapeutic community in the
country designed specifically for seniors battling illicit drugs as
well as alcohol abuse.

Alcohol is the primary problem for most older substance abusers, like
71-year-old Julius Small, who had his first drink when he was 16. He
struggled with hard liquor most of his life and was even dry for nine
years. But a few years ago, his teeth started giving him trouble.
"Some fellas said a drink would knock it away, so I started again."

Mr. Small ended up homeless before he was finally referred to Odyssey
House, where he's been for 19 months.

Experts say serious problems start later in life for about one-third
of elderly substance abusers. Many people like Richardson drank or
used marijuana socially for years with no problem.

"Older people have to deal with tremendous issues of loss, from
retirement to the death of a spouse. So they begin to rely on the
alcohol and other things," says Cynthia Morley, an
older-adult-treatment specialist at Crouse Chemical Dependency
Services in Syracuse, N.Y. "About two-thirds are the more chronic
users."

One man's long road back Sixty-year-old Richard Thompson fits that
category. He was 12 when he first started smoking marijuana. The
older he got, the more sophisticated the drugs he used, from cocaine
to heroin. He became a wily survivor on the streets of Harlem.

"To survive the drug world, you have to learn to adapt to almost any
situation. You got to be smart. It's hard work," he says. "But
there's no place in the drug world for an older person."

A study done by the federal government's Drug and Alcohol Services
Information System indicates that the number of people like Mr.
Thompson entering their senior years is already increasing. Between
1995 and 1999, alcohol was the primary problem for the vast majority
of the more than 50,000 people over the age of 55 who entered
publicly funded drug-treatment facilities. But during that four-year
period, alcohol admissions declined by 9 percent while admissions for
illicit drugs increased by 25 percent for men and 43 percent for
women.

"These individuals have struggled through life, brought families up,
paid taxes, and they've somehow never been able to quit this thing,"
says Peter Provet, the president of Odyssey House. "What we try to do
is give people an opportunity to move toward life closure and find
inner peace with themselves and hence with their families."

Indeed, Susie Richardson considers that one of her greatest gifts.
She now works as a cook at Odyssey House and is able once again to be
a fully present mother and grandmother. "I have 18 grandkids, and I
always tell them, 'You don't want to go through what your grandmother
went through,' " she says, shaking her head. "No way."