Illicit drug use, drinking starting at 12
Natasha Wallace Health Reporter
December 18, 2007
THE average age of first-time drug users in NSW has dropped to 12½ and alcohol problems have outstripped illicit drug problems for the first time in 30 years, according to Odyssey House's annual report, to be released today.
Odyssey's chief executive, James Pitts, said many "tweens" and teenagers entering its rehabilitation centre in Sydney had developed addictions as a way of coping with a difficult family life because illegal drugs had become easier to obtain.
"Drug misuse is starting younger: the average age at which people first try drugs, particularly alcohol and cannabis, is now around 12 to 13 years, down from 17 to 19 years in the 1970 and '80s," Mr Pitts said.
"Unfortunately, alcohol dependence is often the pathway to illicit drugs for young people and can set them up for drug problems that continue into adulthood and are difficult to overcome," he said.
Children as young as 10 had been admitted to the program for alcohol abuse, which was a strong predictor for cannabis use a few years later. "Certainly in some cases by the time they're 11 or 12 years old we have some people smoking dope."
Mr Pitts said they were predominantly children from disadvantaged socioeconomic groups who lacked parental supervision, especially in the hours immediately after school.
"One of the other indicators of illicit drug use amongst adolescents is the age which they started smoking [cigarettes]. If you start smoking cigarettes then it's not a big jump to smoke marijuana then it's not a big jump to smoke heroin."
He said almost 85 per cent of people aged 12 to 20 would have drunk alcohol or used illicit drugs but only 10 per cent went on to develop a serious addiction.
The number of people entering the withdrawal and residential rehabilitation program at Odyssey increased by 34 per cent, from 614 to 825, in 2006-07; 57 per cent were aged 18 to 30 and 68 per cent were male.
Alcohol was the primary reason for almost a third of admissions to Odyssey House, the report showed. It accounted for 28 per cent of admissions in 2006-07 - up from 20 per cent two years earlier.
The report said about 70 per cent of people cited alcohol as a significant problem.
Amphetamine-type substances such as crystal methamphetamine (ice) and ecstasy accounted for 26 per cent of admissions in 2006-07, up from 15 per cent the previous year, while heroin accounted for 18 per cent, down from 31 per cent after a worldwide shortage of the drug.
But Mr Pitts said "a bumper crop" was expected from Afghanistan over the next year to 18 months.
Cannabis accounted for 14 per cent of admissions in 2006-07, the same as the previous year.
Mr Pitts attributed the increase in alcoholism to a rapid rise in amphetamine use among drug users aged 18 to 25, which in turn was pushed up by the heroin drought.
