Boomers Are OD'ing Bwahahahaha... Or: Die Hippy! Die!

Ok, I'm just having a little fun with the hippies. I mean, my parents are baby boomers.... But of course they had enough brains to understand living the bohemian lifestyle was a sure way to fail. It appears that many boomers do not (as shown in this story) care whether they live or die. This outcome really is a good thing since it means there will be less downward pull on resources coming from the "Gimme gimme, I want it all, You can't tell me what to do" generation as the rest of them get older and die of natural causes. It's very appropriate the story below focuses specifically on California, since it basked in the culture it defined during the 60's and 70's. Now we see how so many in the counter-culture were nothing more than the dregs of society glamorized then, and now, by Hollywood. From Easy Rider and Woodstock, to present day anti-war rally heroes, and media darling turned crazy as a shithouse rat Cindy "Mama-Ali-Hassan-Mohamad" Sheehan, it has all been a giant lie the boomers bought hook, line, and sinker. The lies, and lifestyle, caught up with them. And it appears many are dying from it. I must admit I take a certain grim glee watching them fall. But, you must understand who I am talking about before you start calling me a heartless conservative... which I'll admit sometimes I am. But that's beside the point. My joy comes not from their death, or their simple demise, but from seeing a generation torn apart by the lies it placed its faith in. This generation was the first to abandon what are commonly known as "Family Values: "God, country, family, monogamy, hard work, and saving for the future. Instead, many embraced free love, drugs, divorce, and the all time, all encompassing, favorite slogan: If it feels good, do it. I realize the past (again, as Hollywood would like us to see it) was not "Leave It To Beaver" 24/7. Anyone who believes that is fooling themselves. But, I honestly believe there is more respect for the items I list as family values above with the generations after the boomers. Therein lies my hope for America and its survival. Anyway, I am keenly aware not every person born between the mid 1940's to early 1960's turned out to be a coke snorting disco whore, but enough have, creating a stir with their most recent odd behavior: dying by overdose. I find this to be humorous ala Nelson Muntz from The Simpson's and his "Ha-Ha" laugh. You know he's not really laughing at you because he finds whatever you did funny, as much as he's showing what a fool you are for whatever foolish thing you did. So, a big Nelson Ha-Ha to the foolish in the boomer generation for weeding yourselves out of the pack a bit early.

A few quotes from the article: "Baby boomers are the first generation that is facing a drug and overdose epidemic in their middle age," said John Newmeyer, epidemiologist and drug researcher at the Haight-Ashbury Free Clinics in San Francisco. "They started using drugs recreationally or regularly over 20 years ago, and they aren't really slowing down." And: "..it seems overdoses are following the same generation through time. In California, the age at which someone was most likely to die from a drug overdose in 1970 was 22; by 1985, it was 32; and today it is 43, according to calculations by Males, based on state health data." And: "..drug deaths so dramatic that soon they may surpass automobile accidents as the state's leading cause of nonnatural deaths." And: "In 2003, the latest year for which the state has figures, a record 3,691 drug users died, up 73% since 1990. The total surpassed deaths from firearms, homicides and AIDS." Pretty sad. In a sing-song voice: Boomers are OD'ing, Boomers are OD'ing, la la la la la la Boomers' Overdose Deaths Up Markedly By Daniel Costello, Times Staff Writer Californians age 40 and older are dying of drug overdoses at double the rate recorded in 1990, a little-noticed trend that upends the notion of hard-core drug use as primarily a young person's peril. Indeed, overdoses among baby boomers are driving an overall increase in drug deaths so dramatic that soon they may surpass automobile accidents as the state's leading cause of nonnatural deaths. In 2003, the latest year for which the state has figures, a record 3,691 drug users died, up 73% since 1990. The total surpassed deaths from firearms, homicides and AIDS. Remarkably, the rate of deadly overdoses among younger users over that period has slightly declined, while the rate among those 40 and older has jumped from 8.6 to 17.3 per hundred thousand people. The change has caught many prevention programs, which tend to be geared toward young people, off guard. Several drug abuse prevention officials and other experts said there was virtually no strategy in place to address the risk of overdose among older users. Read the rest.... if you can stomach it, at the link above.