OCEAN CITY — Addiction is often thought to be an issue that plagues the young or the middle-aged, but statistical data shows that one of the fastest growing demographics abusing opiates is the elderly.
“Seventy percent of the opiate addicts in Maryland get there by the prescription drug route,” says Dr. Michael Finegan, a clinical psychologist at Peninsula Addictions Services in Salisbury who is the only Eastern Shore member of the Governor’s Opiate Taskforce. “We don’t have concrete numbers on this, but I think it’s very safe to theorize that the number is even higher with our geriatric population. They have been given medication that they have become addicted to, and if they have a change in prescription or financial situation, these older individuals are at an increased risk of turning to illicit drugs like heroin or buying pills off the street.”
Often dubbed the “hidden epidemic” by health experts, prescription pill usage amongst Americans over the age of 65 is not just landing them in hospitals or rehabilitation centers across the country at an increasing rate, they may indirectly be their grandchildren’s first drug provider.
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4 comments:
Big Pharma has paid off politicians so they can pay off doctors to over prescribe medications they are better off without. How many people over the age of 30 do you know that are on at least one prescribed drug ?
BS!!! prescriptions?!?!? lol LIARS, its the cooked politicians forcing the borders to remain open so these drugs and their buddies can flow rapid
My friends 65yo mom was prescribed a large daily dose of oxycontin before the formula changed. She now gets morphine pills, 60mg 4 times a day. She's very addicted and will admit it. She doesn't abuse, takes as prescribed but someone stole her purse one day and she had to resort to her son calling friends to try and find her pills because she was so sick. Her doc wouldn't give her another script even with a police report.
And her son knew just who to call. The guy he sold his moms pills to.
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