Record number of pensioners treated for drug and alcohol abuse last year
A RECORD number of pensioners were treated for drug and alcohol abuse last year, figures show.
Some 8,218 were referred to rehab schemes — 1,600 of them hooked on opiates such as heroin and morphine.
Another 459 needed treatment for cannabis addiction and 59 crack cocaine.
Overall, nine in ten of the over-65s sent for specialist treatment — some 6,102 — needed help for alcoholism.
The number referred has soared 678 per cent since 2007, and 35 per cent since the start of the pandemic.
Robin Pollard, head of policy at drugs, alcohol and mental health charity WithYou, said: “Loneliness and social isolation among older adults is a key driver in alcohol and drug-related harm. It’s likely this has become a major contributing factor since Covid.
“Changes in lifestyle and life transitions as people age, such as deteriorating health, bereavement and retirement also precipitate a change in behaviour, and can lead to increased levels of drinking, or the use of drugs.”
The total of Brits receiving treatment for addictions hit 290,000 last year — a 15,000 rise in two years but below the 311,000 peak in 2010.
Some 4,907 died from drug poisoning in 2022, a record high.
The average rate has risen every year since 2012.