When many of us think about drug overdose, we picture young people at a music festival or people dependent on street heroin.

But the latest figures from the Penington Institute show older Australians are increasingly dying from overdoses.

On average, seven people died every day from a drug-related overdose. Unintentional drug overdoses makes up more than 80% of those deaths.

For the first time in a decade, this year’s report showed people aged 50–59 years made up the highest proportion of unintentional deaths (25.5%). People 40–49 years old are a close second (25.4%).

Those aged 50-59 years also had the second-highest intentional drug-related deaths (19.9%) after people in their 70s (22%).

So why are overdoses increasing in this age group? Are over-50s simply using more drugs or is something else going on?

What illicit drugs do older people use?

Illicit drug use is more common among younger adults than older Australians. Use peaks in people’s 20s then tends to decline with age.

People who are now in their 40s and 50s came of age during the 1980s and 1990s, when Australia had relatively high levels of heroin, amphetamine and cannabis use.

While many people reduced or stopped using drugs as they aged, a smaller group continued to use over the course of their lives, contributing to an ageing cohort of people who use drugs.

But the gap between younger and older people using illicit drugs has narrowed over time. Rates among younger people have remained relatively stable, and in some cases have declined slightly, while rates among people aged 50 years and over have increased.

Cannabis is by far the most commonly used illicit drug among older Australians, but non-medical use of........

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