As if opioid usage isn't already an issue in the region, now studies are showing that that trend is moving toward elderly people as well.

According to one study, opioid abuse declined in younger groups between 2002 and 2014, especially among 18 - 25-year olds.

However, that number of opioid usage among Americans over 50 nearly doubled.

According to Sen. Robert P. Casey Jr. of Penn., one in three people with a Medicare prescription drug plan received an opioid prescription which seems to be putting our Baby Boomers and older at a greater risk.

Some have reported that Medicare compounds the epidemic by funding needed opioids that are able to be abused, but does not fund the medications needed to fight opioid addiction like naloxone.

 

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