Will recession mean a new generation of addicts?

The research, from the NHS's National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse (NTA), showed that, overall, the number of people seeking treatment for drug addiction is declining - in line with government figures for wider drug use.

However, the one age group that is increasingly seeking treatment is the over-40s. Nearly 62,000 people over 40 are currently receiving treatment for drug addiction in the UK, compared with 58,617 the year before.

The over-40s age group is the only one which has seen an increase of people in treatment in the last year, and has the number is almost double that amount in treatment in 2005/2006. It is also leading to an increasing number of deaths in the age range - with 802 dying from drug misuse in 2011 compared to 504 in 2001.

The 18-24 age group has seen those in treatment decline from 32,948 in 2005/2006 to 21,290 in 2011/2012.

Heroin is the most prolific drug being treated in the over-40s category, followed by combined heroin and crack addiction. Fifty five per cent of over-40s being treated for drug dependency are addicted to heroin, the survey found, with another 32 per cent addicted to a combination of heroin and crack.

One of the reasons for the large amount of over 40s seeking treatment is the recessions of the 80s and 90s, the chief executive of the NTA Paul Hayes said.

"There's an increasing challenge from older drug users, many of whom are still in the system and others who began using in the 80s and 90s are now beginning to access treatment as their health deteriorates," he said.

"These people became addicted to heroin during the epidemics of the 80s and 90s. Some are trying treatment for the first time this year, others have tried treatment, relapsed and then come back in, or have entrenched use that presents a significant issue for treatment services, not least because of the sheer numbers in treatment who are aged over 40."

He said that the younger age groups were less likely to use heroin or crack because they are "savvier", and have seen the impact of this kind of drug misuse. However, he warned that the impact of the most recent recession of drug dependency are yet to be seen.

No-one could have predicted in the 1980s that one of the consequences of the recession would have been mass heroin use," he said. "It came from nowhere."

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Will recession mean a new generation of addicts?