LOL! MILLIONS OF BABY BOOMERS SAY THEY STILL GET HIGH & POP PILLS!

Millions of baby boomers still get high.
Some 5% of Americans over age 50 admit to abusing drugs, according to a new government study.

Marijuana is the drug of choice, but many boomers can't stop popping prescription meds, forcing more and more of them into rehab.

"This new data has profound implications for the health and well being of older adults who continue to abuse substances," said Pamela Hyde, head of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the federal agency that conducted the study.

The problem is that some baby boomers never stopped using drugs as they matured into adulthood, the study says, and pill popping was an easy habit for the Woodstock generation to pick up.

Researchers believe the number of people born between 1946 and 1964 who seek drug abuse treatment will double by 2020, straining an under-prepared system.

"We need much better support services for the number of older adults who are going to have substance abuse problems," said Dr. Gary Kennedy, director of Geriatric Psychiatry at Montefiore Medical Center.

There's a pattern of older adults mellowing out of illicit drug use and transitioning into prescription and alcohol abuse, Kennedy said. He's seen baby boomers abusing everything from painkillers like Valium to stimulants like Dexedrine.

"It could be an adult who used to smoke a joint every night before bed and now they take a sleeping pill," he said, adding that alcohol is "still the king of abused substances."

Of the roughly 5 million drug users over age 50, 45% identified themselves in a survey as pot smokers, 33% as prescription drug users and the rest as users of other illicit drugs.