Kids are more sober, parents are getting high these days

By Stone Martindale Sep 10, 2006, 22:22 GMT

"Real Time" Bill Maher - pointed out the kids are more abstemious, and the parents are getting baked... © Scott Alan / Photorazzi

WASHINGTON — On the recent HBO show, “Real Time with Bill Maher”,  the news was shared with Maher’s celebrity guest panel trio that Baby Boomers-those born in the fertile post-World War II days up until 1959, are not “just saying no” and getting high at unprecedented rates.

PJ O’Rourke, 59, a political satirist and panelist on Maher’s “Real Time” joked: “It’s because we HAVE kids.”

Blame it on being sandwiched between aging parents and trying children, or perhaps having more discretionary income than either group, but Boomers are throwing caution to the wind and enjoying self-medicating alternatives to alcohol.

The government reported that 4.4 percent of baby boomers ages 50 to 59 indicated that they had used illicit drugs in the past month. It marks the third consecutive yearly increase recorded for that age group by the National Survey on Drug Use and Health.

Strangely illicit drug use among young teens trended downward for the third consecutive year — from 11.6 percent in 2002 to 9.9 percent in 2005.

"Rarely have we seen a story like this where this is such an obvious contrast as one generation goes off stage right, and entering stage left is a generation that learned a lesson somehow and they're doing something very different," said David Murray, special assistant to the director for the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

The annual survey on drug use and health involves interviews of about 67,500 people. It provides an important snapshot of how many Americans drink, smoke and use drugs such as marijuana, cocaine and methamphetamine.

Groups seeking the legalization of marijuana said the results show that the United States is spending billions and incarcerating millions, yet drugs remain widely available.

"The government's current approach to drugs, with its drug free rhetoric and over-reliance on punitive, criminal justice policies costs billions more each year yet delivers less and less," said Bill Piper, director of national affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance.
Murray said the peak of drug use among youth in the United States occurred in the late 1970s.

"And they brought it with them like baggage when they hit 50 and 60," Murray said.
Drug use by baby boomers increased from 2.7 percent in 2002 to 4.4 percent last year. Marijuana was by far their drug of choice, Murray said.