The number of middle aged adults in the UK requiring treatment for drug addiction has risen, research from the Centre for Public Health at Liverpool John Moores University suggests.
The study’s leader, Dr Caryl Beynon looked at a group of people aged 49 to 61 who had sought help from drug treatment services. Physical and mental illnesses, loneliness and isolation were particularly prevalent in the group.
“Old age is normally associated with isolation,” says Dr Beynon, “but older drug users tend to sever links with family and non-drug users, so their pool of peers grows smaller and smaller all the time.” She also expressed concern over who was most appropriate to care for older addicts, “all our focus historically has been on young people and how to treat their addictions. But perhaps we should have specific services for older drug users because they have completely different issues.”
Many patients started taking drugs experimentally in the 1960s and 70s. One of the study’s participants gave some insight into this life as an older drug addict, “The more I seem to get older, the more it seems to go worse. At 56 now, I shouldn’t be doing this. I shouldn’t be going out grafting and then running round like a 19-year-old scally looking for heroin and coke. I shouldn’t even be on methadone now. It’s madness.”
The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction estimates that the number of addicts aged over 65 needing treatment in Europe will double between 2001 and 2020. Concern is also growing in the US where the number of problem drug users aged over 50 is predicted to rise to 4.4 million by 2020.
Brenda Roe, professor of health research at Edge Hill University, said more research is needed “to enable health and social care professionals to develop appropriate services for this increasingly vulnerable group”. She also felt older users could play a key role in educating young people about the dangers of taking drugs.
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