CTV ran a hilarious tale of pot-smoking seniors. It has come to their attention that the pot-smoking baby boomers are growing up and taking their drug habits with them into old age.
The article starts out ok, with tales of ordinary grannies lighting up to help with the aches and pains of old age. That seniors love drugs should come as absolutely no surprise to anybody. My own grandmother took dozens of pills for various ailments several times a day. The really stupid part comes at the end when they push the same old tired reefer madness.
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 counsellors say special drug treatment and prevention programs customized for seniors may have to be created.
Why aren't there already $pecial treatment program$ for drug-addicted seniors if their excessive drug use is such a huge concern? My grandma would have been a prime candidate for rehab with her dozens of prescriptions. Drug-using seniors is not news.
Oh wait! It's all reefer madness. Unless we push the all-use-is-abuse model of drug use for all illegal drugs (despite the laws being unscientific), the world will explode in an orgy of wanton drug users having sex and then jumping out of buildings. Or something.
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