http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060924/OPINION02/609240304

Boomers' bad habit

It's no secret that the generation that promoted making love, not war, did so while using illegal drugs. Fortunately, drug abuse among Baby Boomers is much less than it used to be.

However, even though boomers' children have a bigger drug problem today than their parents, illegal drug use among them has dropped - even as it went up among adults during the same time period.

The National Survey on Drug Use and Health reveals that 4.4 percent of adults surveyed between ages 50 and 59 used illicit drugs recently.

That's a lot, and the percentage has increased for three years. Although illegal drug use remains prevalent among teenagers, it's encouraging that the percentage who abuse drugs went down for three years in a row, from 11.6 percent in 2002 to 9.9 percent last year.

Mostly, the rebellious youth of three and four decades ago have turned into the establishment that they once so readily despised.

But considering the survey results of 67,500 people, too many grown-ups nowadays simply refuse to stop participating in the illegal drug culture, where marijuana, cocaine, and methamphetamines are among the accessible drugs. When adults abuse drugs and tell their teenagers to abstain, they should be proud when their children do as they say, and not as they do.

It's a shame that so many turn to illegal drugs, and it's especially disheartening when the abusers are adults approaching 60. The fact that so many do, shows how easy it is to obtain them in a country that's supposedly in a war on drugs.

Looks like the drug lords are winning this one.

And Baby Boomers, we're sorry to note, are helping them win it.