The number of deaths among the Baby Boomer generation due to drug overdoses has nearly doubled since 1990.
The startling increase has health officials looking for answers, and has some Baby Boomers looking for help. Baby Boomer David Hickman was 16 years old when he started down the path that would eventually end in a devastating drug addiction .
David Hickman, Drug Counselor:"All my friends were smoking marijuana, went from there to trying hallucinogens, LSD, mushrooms."
The counter-culture movement of the sixties seemed to encourage his problem.
David Hickman:"When I was introduced to a culture that was live how you want, forget the rules, that was OK with me."
Today, he's a recovering addict. Statistics show Hickman's efforts at sober living have eluded many other members of his generation. In California, boomers are dying of drug overdoses at twice the rate of just 15 years ago. In 2003, the last year the state compiled data, drug deaths for Baby Boomers were up 73% since 1990. At the same time, the number of fatal overdoses for younger users went down.
Mike Males, UC Santa Cruz Sociologist:"Drug overdose deaths in California now exceeds deaths from suicide, homicide, guns, AIDS and other major causes, and lag only behind traffic accidents.
Source: Channel 6 News, WLNS, Lansing, Michigan, November 13, 2005
The number of deaths among the Baby Boomer generation due to drug overdoses has nearly doubled since 1990.
The startling increase has health officials looking for answers, and has some Baby Boomers looking for help. Baby Boomer David Hickman was 16 years old when he started down the path that would eventually end in a devastating drug addiction .
The counter-culture movement of the sixties seemed to encourage his problem.
David Hickman:"When I was introduced to a culture that was live how you want, forget the rules, that was OK with me."
Today, he's a recovering addict. Statistics show Hickman's efforts at sober living have eluded many other members of his generation. In California, boomers are dying of drug overdoses at twice the rate of just 15 years ago. In 2003, the last year the state compiled data, drug deaths for Baby Boomers were up 73% since 1990. At the same time, the number of fatal overdoses for younger users went down.
Mike Males, UC Santa Cruz Sociologist:"Drug overdose deaths in California now exceeds deaths from suicide, homicide, guns, AIDS and other major causes, and lag only behind traffic accidents.
Source: Channel 6 News, WLNS, Lansing, Michigan, November 13, 2005