Hospitals are treating record numbers of old people for brain issues caused by cocaine.
Some have snorted drugs supplied by their grandchildren.
NHS stats record 14 admissions of those aged 90 and over in England in the year to April – up from nine the previous year.
And the head of a private addiction clinic has seen more OAPs seeking help as cocaine becomes more easily available.
Jan Gerber, who runs Paracelsus Recovery in London and Zurich, said: “We believe it is for similar reasons that alcohol and medication abuse is common among older people – to medicate physical pain, loneliness, end-of-life anxiety.
“It is not unheard of that elder users procure drugs from grandchildren.”
In the last year alone there were 12,564 admissions for mental disorders caused by cocaine, compared to 4,875 a decade ago.
Most are aged 20 to 39.
Experts say the drug is now seen as normal across all levels of society.
In August, James Wightman, 67, was jailed for 14 months for driving a van with nearly £100,000 of cocaine near Moffat, Scotland.
In 2019, Ian Hemmens, 81, got nine months for being a getaway driver for a county lines dealer in Bognor Regis, West Sussex.
Side-effects of cocaine include paranoia and psychosis. Some 777 cocaine-related deaths were recorded from 2018 to 2020.
