Drug-addled boomers the new burden
John Ferguson
Herald Sun
February 11, 2009 12:00am
TENS of thousands of baby boomers who abuse drugs and alcohol will be shock new targets in the war on drugs.
The growing number of baby boomers suffering drug and alcohol-related illness is alarming health experts.
GPs, hospital, welfare and education workers have been told to deal with the crisis by intervening when patients show any signs of abuse.
Special online computer screening will be aimed at the state's 1.4 million baby boomers and younger Victorians.
A special investigation will be held into the extent of the baby boomer drug and alcohol problem.
Almost three million Australians 40 or older say they have taken illicit drugs at least once in their lives.
Community Services Minister Lisa Neville said baby boomers would form a key part of the 2009-2013 alcohol and drug strategy.
They had been the first generation to experience relaxed liquor licensing laws.
"All of a sudden we saw a generation who had more access to alcohol -- and not just alcohol -- other illicit drugs as well," she said.
Nearly 20 per cent of clients calling on drug and alcohol treatment services in Victoria are 45 or older.
But this number is believed to understate the problem, with diabetes, liver, kidney, heart disease and mental health issues common.
Leading drug and alcohol expert Prof Jon Currie, of St Vincent's Health, said boomers' bad habits were coming back to haunt them.
"What we've got is quite a solid generation who've got recurrent problems with these drugs," he told the Herald Sun. "And with alcohol."
He warned that older drinkers and users increasingly found it difficult to remain productive.
Baby boomers refers to the 1.4 million Victorians born between 1946 and 1965. The oldest ones came of age during the 1960s and the 1970s, when illicit drug use became widespread.
Marijuana, LSD and heroin were among the illicit drugs made widely available in the 1960s and 1970s. Alcohol is the most widely abused drug.
Prof Currie said detailed studies now pointed to serious harms from marijuana use. "It has extensive effects on brain function," he said.
Victorian Alcohol and Drug Association president Simon Ruth said the state was about to experience the first generation of life-long drug users.
"They were coming into their teenage years in the '60s and '70s when all the drug use was just starting to take off," Mr Ruth said.
The Brumby Government's new blueprint for alcohol and other drug treatment services will cover the next five years.
Key recommendations include $4.5 million to develop and support online and telephone screening for people at risk of harmful drinking and $3 million for an alcohol community awareness campaign.
