Stoner wrinklies giving Germans a headache

Willie Nelson, 78, is an inspiration to elderly hippies. Photo / AP

They include 60-plus grandmothers spaced out on LSD and 70-year-olds in court for dealing dope: Germany is struggling to cope with a rapid increase in "pensioner hippies" who are still hooked on drugs nearly half a century after the end of the "flower power" era.

The "stoned grandparent" phenomenon has begun to alarm legal and welfare authorities in the country's most populous state, North Rhine Westphalia, where the number of pensioners convicted of drug offences has almost doubled over the past decade to about 120 a year.

The problem has led to a scheme to help geriatric specialists familiarise themselves with addiction and old age.

Gaby Schnell, of the regional senior citizens' association, told Der Spiegel magazine, "Older people are increasingly turning to illegal drugs. This is a new development which has only surfaced over the past few years."

Most cases have involved pension-age hippies convicted of drug-related offences.

In one incident, a narcotics crime squad in Dortmund arrested a 69-year-old drugs dealer nicknamed Opium Grandpa.

Officers had tricked him into selling them 20g of the drug for £208 ($415). He was given a two-year suspended sentence.

Another case involved a 73-year-old who required medical treatment after consuming too many "hash cookies".

The crime figures are taken as evidence of a vast, yet hidden number of older people who are either regular drug users or addicts.

Sociologists say Germany's hippie senior citizens are merely copying their rock star heroes of the hedonistic late 60s, when taking drugs was considered part of being cool.

Among the examples they point to is the American singer Willie Nelson, 78, who was caught last year carrying 170g of marijuana.

"A whole generation is appearing on the scene which will have big difficulties with the problems of addiction and old age," Schnell said.

Her predictions are borne out by statistics from Germany's Central Agency for Addiction.

They show that the number of people over 40 who are undergoing treatment for dependency on hard drugs has more than trebled in the past decade. It now makes up 22 per cent of the total, and is continuing to rise.

The problem of drug-addicted "hippie pensioners" has also started to concern experts in Chancellor Angela Merkel's government.

"These people cannot simply be looked after in old people's homes," Mechthild Dyckmans, the Government's special adviser on drugs and addiction, told Der Spiegel.

"We have started a few communal living pilot projects, but we are just at the beginning."

- THE INDEPENDENT