Baby Boomer Drug Use

It would be fair to the taxpayers to have people who apply for benefits be tested for illegal drugs, criminal records, military service, high school diplomas, income tax filings, illegitimate children, back child support and maybe some other criteria. Too many wrong answers and benefits could be denied. A history of drug abuse would be one of the wong answers.

Ralphie of LA 8:14PM October 23, 2010

Interesting article. I wonder if the fact that the baby boomers are the largest group of people, in any one age group, was figured into his numbers.

D of FL 10:33PM September 28, 2009

Many people in the baby boomer generation are starting to feel depressed and part of the reason for this is that if they lose a spouse or significant other they tend to isolate theirselves from the rest of the world. We're also living a lot longer than previous generations. Let's face it in our younger days there was so much going on....we witnessed President Kennedy being assassinated. We had the Vietnam war in which all of us pretty much lost loved ones for a war that most people didn't support. We had the advent of the birth control pill and we lived in constant fear of the Cold War with Russia and in my case a very real fear of Cuba and the missle crisis as I grew up in S. Florida. Our generation were trail blazers.I can't really say with positive proof why drug use is up but I suspect very strongly that once the numbers are tallied up for 2008 if people are truly honest they will be astounded by the numbers. I say this because I think we are going to see that all across the board drug and alcohol use are both going to be way up. Most of us have seen our life savings disappear, we've been at war with Iraq for what seems like forever, crime is way up, people are terrified to spend their money (what's left of it) for a much needed getaway because we all feel too guilty to spend anything except for the bare necessities. I also think suicide rates are going to go up, strokes, heart attacks and depression is running rampant. All one needs to do is go anywhere these days and the mood is somber at best. It's very difficult to go out these days and yuck it up when unemployment is going up, incomes are going down, positions are being "eliminated" even for folks that have been very loyal employees for 30+ years at the companies that have decided that their services aren't needed any longer. You don't have to look very hard to find someone that has been impacted by all of this. People are losing their jobs, their houses and many have lost their entire life savings. How can you walk around and feel good and optimistic (no matter how upbeat you may be) when you know the next person to lose their job just might be you?

And because the economy is in such a slump it seems to be that a lot of police officers are being encouraged to pull everyone over and get them for something that in the past might have just been a warning. It's like a cash cow now. So, a lot of people don't want to (or feel they can't) even go out and socialize because all of that cost money so I think more people will start drinking and doing drugs at home just to self medicate because they've lost hope. It's very very tragic. I would be more surprised to read that drug and alcohol use have gone down. Most of us have seen about 40% of our life savings vanish and the equity in our homes (if there is any equity left!!!!!). Let's hope things get better and the sooner the better.

From one Baby Boomer to Another of CA 4:42PM January 16, 2009