On its front page, the Wall Street Journal (3/16, A1, Elinson, Subscription Publication) reports, in a nearly 2,500-word story, on the increasingly higher rates at which 76 million aging baby boomers are abusing prescription medicines, getting arrested, and dying from accidental overdoses. The Journal adds that this particular population abused substances at higher rates than any other generation during their youth. The trend has attracted the attention and concern of Federal health officials, including those from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Wilson Compton, Deputy Director of NIDA, is quoted as saying, “As the baby boomers have aged and brought their habits with them into middle age, and now into older adult groups, we are seeing marked increases in overdose deaths.”
Related Links:
— “Aging Baby Boomers Bring Drug Habits Into Middle Age,”Zusha Elinson, The Wall Street Journal, March 16, 2015.