Illegal drug use rising among Americans over 50; remnant of a Baby Boomer rite of passage?

Are baby boomers becoming the driving force behind America's drug epidemic? The National Survey on Drug Use and Health, a continuing poll of about 67,500 Americans evenly distributed over the nation, found that among respondents ages 50-54, the number who said they had used illegal drugs within the past 30 days was 7.2 percent last year, more than double the 3.4 percent reported in 2002, says The Crime Report.

Numbers rose more than 300 percent among those aged 55 to 59, to 6.6 percent from 1.9 percent in 2002, and among those 60 to 64, to 3.6 percent from 1.1 percent in 2003. People who are now 55 to 64 were in their teens or early 20s when drug use soared in the last 1960s and early 1970s. (Graphic shows responses from those 50 and older)

Overall, "the report estimates that about 9.2 percent of Americans were illicit drug users in 2012, up from 8.1 percent four years earlier," according to The Crime Report. "Marijuana was the most commonly used illicit drug. While overall drug use and marijuana use are on the rise, methamphetamine use has declined dramatically. In 2006, an estimated 731,000 Americans, or 0.3 percent of the population, were methamphetamine users; the report estimates that figure dropped to 440,000, or 0.2 percent, in 2012." (Read more) To read the full report click here.