(NaturalNews) The baby boomer generation is literally drinking itself to death at a time when medical marijuana should be – and could be – saving their lives.

As reported by the UK's Daily Mail, boomers born in the post-World War II period between 1946 and 1964 are distinct from previous generations because of their far great indulgence in hedonistic, aesthetic lifestyles, and this is particularly evident in their drinking habits.

Some believe that boomers drink at greater volumes than previous generations because during their formative years advertising for alcohol and tobacco was much more widespread. It could also be due to the fact that boomers have it much better than their parents, for the most part.

Now aged between 51 and 70, boomers' drinking habits are leading many to a premature grave. Between 1992 and 2006, average weekly alcohol consumption for boomers aged 45–64 increased by a staggering 85 percent. That compares with a 50 percent increase in drinking for those aged 65 and older, and a 45 percent increase in the 16–24 age group.

Follow-up studies have revealed similar findings, the Daily Mail reported. Between 2005 and 2013, for instance, the percentage of males consuming eight or more alcohol units – which is equal to four pints of normal strength beer – on any given day over the previous week changed by just 5 percent, and that was in the over-65 age group.
 

Loneliness and alcohol kill

By comparison, the drinking rate fell by 30 percent among 16–24 year-olds, 19 percent in the 22–44 year-old age group, and 12 percent for those between 45 and 64 years of age.

Additional data contains identical drinking patterns among baby boomers, the paper said. Between 2001 and 2014, alcohol-related deaths in England skyrocketed by more than 150 percent, while alcohol-related admissions to the hospital rose faster among the boomer generation than any other.

Admissions for behavioral and mental disorders attributed to alcohol abuse are now higher than those for alcoholic liver disease in those over the age of 60.