Drug abuse among Shanghai's older groups looming large

SHANGHAI: Drug abuse among the older population is becoming a new problem in this major financial hub, against the popular notion that social ills are largely limited to the reckless young.

While teenagers and young white-collar workers still form the bulk of drug-takers in the city, the number of middle-aged and older residents who abused drugs rose noticeably last year, the Shanghai Anti-Drug Commission said.

Local police even uncovered a series of drug abuse cases among the older population last year, which formed "a significant increase" over previous years, the commission's spokesman, Zheng Yuqing, said yesterday.