U-M researchers have determined that older people use drugs, too:
“… The proportion of 35-year-olds who abuse alcohol and use illicit drugs is higher than might be expected, a University of Michigan study shows.
More than 32 percent of men report heavy drinking—defined as having five or more drinks in a row—at least once in the past two weeks. Nearly 13 percent of men and 7 percent of women report using marijuana in the past month, and 7 percent of men and 8 percent of women report misusing prescription drugs in the past year. […]
“We found that substance use was surprisingly prevalent at the start of midlife,” said Alicia Merline, an ISR researcher who is the lead author of the article. “And we also found that it is not restricted to stereotypical drug users with low socioeconomic status.”
After controlling for gender, education and income, the researchers found that professionals are equally as likely to use marijuana as those in other job classifications. Nearly 10 percent of the 35-year-old males with professional jobs report having used marijuana in the past month, for example. … “