The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report the number of fatal drug overdoses has set an all-time record. Drug overdose has surpassed suicide and car accidents as a cause of death.
The clinical director at South Padre Island-based Origins Recovery Center, Stephanie Smith, says baby boomers are seeing the fastest growth in deaths from overdoses.
“That is one of the age groups that we're seeing the opiate and painkiller overdoses really shoot up,” Smith says. “With retirement, there's sometimes boredom, there's sometimes grief, depression.”
The death rate has more than doubled over the last 15 years and the overdose death rate among Americans 54 to 65 is five times higher than it was 15 years ago.
“We're seeing that generation increase dramatically in terms of addiction and overdose,” she says, “the Boomer Generation being that first generation where experimentation was almost the norm.”