Another Cross That Has To Be Borne By Baby Boomers

Along with free love, clouding the difference between crime victims & the criminals, a loss of respect for authority, personal "freedom" becoming more important than the common need, shifting of individual responsibility onto society as a whole, etc.

Boomers and reefers

Are baby boomers flying under radar of drug abuse?

Last Updated January 9, 2007

CBC News

Pierre Berton works out on his 80th birthday, July 12, 2000.
(Aaron Harris/Canadian Press)

Not long before he died in November 2004, Pierre Berton, then 84, invited comedian Rick Mercer to his home where he demonstrated, on camera, how to roll a perfect joint. Before the interview, Berton told Mercer, "Bring the pot." When the interview ended, the iconic Canadian told Mercer, "Leave the pot."

Berton had been using marijuana since the 1960s. He admitted that he had been a "recreational marijuana user" since then.

"I enjoy the odd joint but I never go overboard," he told the Toronto Star. "I smoke about once a month to help me relax."

Kind of cute and funny, we thought, but there was a serious edge to the story. Berton may not have been your prototypical baby boomer, but he did represent a generation not usually associated with illicit drug use. As with the boomers, Berton's generation tended to fly below the radar of surveys purporting to detail illicit drug use.

This came to light this week in an article in the New York Times titled "This is Your Brain on Drugs, Dad." Writer Mike Males, a senior researcher with the U.S. Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, took issue with some studies on the use of illicit drugs such as marijuana, heroin, methamphetamine cocaine, hallucinogens, and ecstasy by both young and old.

Not cute or funny in my books........