By Martin Banks - 15th November 2010
Over the next decades, expect to see increasing numbers of older problem drug users
EMCDDA
A new report by the EU drugs agency says that drug problems "have no age limits".
The Lisbon-based EMCDDA says drug use is no longer simply a "youth phenomenon."
Europe is experiencing a pronounced ageing of its population, around a quarter of which will be aged 65 or over by 2050.
And the agency's report said that Europe's drug-using population is also ageing and that meeting the needs of older drug users is a growing issue for treatment services.
This, it says, is particularly the case in western countries which saw the EU's first heroin epidemics in the 1980s and 1990s.
Focusing on dependent drug users aged 40 or over, the review highlights the "severity" of their needs and "poor quality of life".
But it warns that "specialised treatment and care programmes for older drug users are rare in Europe".
Data from specialised drug treatment centres and opioid substitution treatment providers show that older drug users now make up a substantial proportion of their clients and, in many countries, this share is growing.
On average, around one in five (19 per cent) of all those entering treatment in Europe are aged 40 or over, while in some countries the figure is close to 30 per cent.
This represents a major increase compared to a decade ago when, in most member states, the proportion of older clients did not exceed 10 per cent.
Portugal reports the highest share (28 per cent) of older drug users entering treatment, while Spain reports the highest increase: 15 percentage points since 2000.
Data specifically on substitution treatment show that, in some countries, over half of the clients are over 40.
While the largest shares of older problem drug users in treatment are found in western EU countries, in most central and eastern European countries, the over-40s make up a small percentage of problem drug users in treatment, says the report.
"As drug epidemics there began later these regions can expect, over the next decades, to see increasing numbers of older problem drug users," says the report.
It says older drug users in treatment report high levels of unemployment and social isolation and present the chronic physical and psychosocial consequences of long-term drug use, such as liver disease, overdose-related damage, depression.
EMCDDA director Wolfgang Götz said, "It is commonly assumed that people in their mid-30s grow out of drug use but data from drug treatment centres in Europe show that this is not always the case.
"Increasingly services are called on to meet the needs of ageing clients who bear the health effects of long-term drug use combined with those of getting older.
"So far we have been slow to grasp the implications of this change, but it clearly presents a growing issue for both specialised drug treatment services and mainstream health and social care providers alike."
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