Tony White

The research shows that different drugs have different ages of peak drug use. For example:
Marijuana 14 - 30 years
LSD 23 - 34 years
Amphetamines 20 -34 years
Heroin 20 - 30's years
Cocaine 18 - 30 years
Inhalants adolescence
Nicotine & alcohol teens - lifetime.



Age first tried illicit drugs
Young drugs
Average age less than 18
Proportion who have tried it before age 16 above 20%
Marijuana
Barbiturates
Inhalants

Older age drugs
Average age above 18
Proportion who have tried it before age 16 below 20%
Heroin
Amphetamines
Cocaine
LSD

When first studying the area of alcohol and drug use I always found this an interesting statement. It suggests that different drugs meet different needs in human development. The good part about this is that when one gets older than the age of peak use then they will probably be less driven to use. One could say less ‘addicted’ perhaps.


The latest weapon in the war on drugs.



There are 10 main reasons why people use drugs with 4 common ones being
* Experimental use - "I always wanted to try that stuff". This is typical reason for adolescent and early adulthood drug use.
* Recreational use - this involves using drugs for recreational leisure activities. This is typical of longer term adulthood drug taking.
* Symptomatic use - this involves the use of a drug so one can avoid unpleasant experiences or memories of childhood. The drug is used to ‘numb’ the user.
* Dependent use - here there is a very strong compulsion to use the drug such as is implied in 'drug addiction' or 'drug dependency'.

I have long maintained that for the drug addict or ‘dependent’ type user it is more productive to use a management strategy that gets them through the age of peak use, rather than trying to get them to stop. Of course one wants them to stop using but at times that realistically is just not going to happen. In such instances the ‘treatment’ strategy is more about assisting the person to get through the age of peak use as best they can. Avoiding as many legal, familial and health issues that confront them is the goal of treatment.

From what I have seen of the literature this is a novel concept that I have not heard articulated before. I have just recently been working with two 50 year old men who both have used heroin in an addicted way since their teenage years. They have very long histories of ongoing heroin addiction and thus have lives which are quite tragic with a number of stints in prison and living a life style that is very damaging to themselves and others.



They also articulate the change in attitude that one sees from a 20 year old heroin addict to the 50 year old heroin ‘addict’. Thus it provides some insight into why certain drugs are used at certain ages and not at others. As you will see from a drug treatment point of view therapy now is much more likely to be successful as they are out of the age of peak drug use for heroin.

Person A states that for his entire adult life he has either been addicted to heroin, in prison or on methadone. He has managed to stay heroin free for about the last 6 years and has used methadone successfully in this way. He has no plans to stop his use of methadone. He expresses no desire to recommence his use of heroin and has little urge to do so.

Person B has not used heroin for the past year and is by and large drug free. He has no interest in alcohol and never has, he has no interest in methadone, he uses marijuana and other drugs like valium spasmodically. His use of heroin has reduced slowly over the past 10 years.

He reports that at this time that he has no urge at all to use heroin and states that in the past 10 years he has gets off heroin when his work and family life are going OK. When they turn bad he then has the urge to use.



The difference is:
Both men do not have that attitude you find in the 20 year old habitual heroin user where there is a very strong desire to seek out an use heroin. Where ones thinking is dominated by thoughts about obtaining and using drugs. They both report they are tired of using heroin and they know where using and dealing drugs leads and they have no desire to go those paths again.

This is also different from the 20 year old user who has an interest in the excitement of the drug scene and believes that he can be heavily involved and avoid trouble with the police and so forth. “He can handle it and not get into trouble like others do” he thinks. These two men basically say that they have been there and done that and it is no longer for them. One of them also reports about feeling embarrassed about being 50 years old and still a drug user.

It simply gets too tiring to live the active heroin addict life style which is a high energy, excitement laden way of living. This for example is quite different from the nicotine or alcohol dependent user who can quite easily keep using until well into old age

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