As the nation's opioid addiction epidemic expands, older adults in Maine and other states face mounting barriers to getting help for abuse of alcohol and opioid painkillers — not the least of which is finding they are squeezed out of scarce treatment facilities by younger people with prescription drug or heroin habits.
And that's only if they seek help. Many older Americans are reluctant to ask for it out of shame of being an addict at this point in their lives — creating what addiction experts call a silent epidemic.
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