Australians take the most drugs while Britain has the biggest alcohol problem

[Jabberwocky]

Strewth! Australians take the most drugs while Britain has the biggest alcohol problem: Study reveals the world's vices by country

• 
  More Australians have taken cannabis, ecstasy and amphetamine-type drugs in the last 12 months than elsewhere in the world
  More than 12% of British people have an alcohol disorder, compared with nearly 8% of people in the US and almost 4% of Australians
  Alcohol and tobacco are the most widely used substances worldwide
  Experts: Smoking and alcoholism causes the most deaths each year

Australians are normally renowned for their surfing abilities and barbecuing skills.

Now, a new study suggests taking illegal drugs should be added to the list.

The world's first comprehensive report on global addictions has revealed Australians smoke less tobacco and drink less alcohol than the British, but take more illegal drugs.

The report, from the University of Adelaide, is the first time that global data on the prevalence of alcohol and other drug use, and gambling, has been presented in a single compilation.

It found that 10.3 per cent of Australians smoke cannabis at least once in a 12-month period, compared to 5- 7 per cent of people in the UK.

Around 3 per cent use ecstasy compared to 1.1 to 1.7 per cent of people in the UK.

And 2.1 per cent of Australians use amphetamine-type drugs at least once in a 12-month period, compared to 1.1 to 1.7 per cent of people in the UK, the researchers found.

Unsurprisingly, the report revealed that alcohol and tobacco are the most widely-used vices across the globe.

Approximately 84 per cent of Australians drink alcohol at least once in a 12-month period, compared to 83.9 per cent in the UK and 68.9 per cent in the US.

However, 3.7 per cent of Australians are considered to have an alcohol use disorder, compared to 12.1 per cent in the UK and 7.8 per cent in the US, they added.

Australians also smoke less when compared to the British, but smoking is still relatively common – 20 per cent of Australians smoke tobacco at least once in a 12-month period, in comparison to 22 per cent of the British.

Researchers did not provide information on US rates of illegal drug taking and smoking.

The study's lead author, Linda Gowing, an associate professor at the University of Adelaide, said alcohol and tobacco cause the most deaths around the world every year.

She said: 'The report found alcohol and tobacco are the most common addictions in most countries and they are also the most harmful.

'Around 11 per cent of deaths in males and 6 per cent of deaths in females are linked to tobacco each year globally.

'Alcoholism is associated with a range of health issues and takes years off someone's life,' she says.

It is important that this data is used to reduce the impact of alcohol abuse and tobacco smoking, she added.

She said: 'This data is highly valuable and can be used to guide policy-makers and researchers in planning responses to addictions world-wide.

The research was published today in the journal Addiction.

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/a...blem-Study-reveals-world-s-vices-country.html


Now if only the stuff Aussies are taking are drugs. Half of it's stamped on crap which doesn't even resemble the true experience of the drug which they are taking.

 

[brighton]

Strange there is no mention of opiates or benzos.

Sooo glad I live in New Zealand, safe from all the ozzie druggies. Phew.

 

[mister]

We have to take more drugs in Aus because the quality is dismal, rest of the world takes 2 pills to our 5 to get the same results

 

[Voyager3]

Shome mishtake ther, shurrely? Only 12%/ Bollocks, it is at least 98% among my friends in the UK!

 

[Burnt Offerings]

Doesn't surprise me at all re: UK and booze, bunch of notorious drunks out that way Coulda swore that Russia had them beat, though, as far as drinking their way to liver failure

 

[Voyager3]

Well, I should know! Maybe this is why I tend to get on well with Russians, Poles and the Irish, who drink like fish... and the other English/British piss artists who live round here, and attend my local(s)?

 

[Voyager3]

Odd thing I noticed Mister, we get all those bloody awful fly-on-the-wall programmes about 'Heroic Police', Border Security and of course, Customs Inspectors. I quite enjoy the Australian ones about Customs, they seem so grim and determined, and utterly devoid of any sense of humour whatsoever - which always makes for a good laugh. Most of it is pretty dull, deaf old ladies and pretty little Asian girls with bits of fruit in theiir bags, which they forgot to eat on the plane... couple of hundred dollar fine even so... but what fascinates me is the - shock, horror!- Drug Smuggling!

It seems the magic, hi-tech machines they now have, which dutifully 'sniff' a cotton but wiped on someones shoes/bag/suitcase/camera/hat etc., almost invariably detect traces of cocaine, and go 'bleep' every time. Very odd, since 99% of the time, the tearful, bewildered victim (or should that be 'miscrieant'?) hasn't got so much as a shoeful of coke on them, has never touched the stuff, and is carrying not a crumb - as minute examination of their person an luggae proves after several tedious hours. To be absolutely assured of a 'result' of course, said customs official only has to sample the money in their wallet, which is guaranteed to be encrusted with grams of snot caked charlie, from some previous owner. And a jolly good, long period of detention then follows for anyone deemed irritating, annoying, suspicious or just too foreign looking...

When it comes to 'real drugs', be they in the post, craftily concealed in correspondence, posters, greeting card or intricate metal castings, it almost invariably turns out to be a sinister, suspicious white powder... that turns out to be Ephedrine! This is always of great apparent satisfaction, even though you can buy the stuff over the counter in any chemist here in the UK. I assume it is destined to be turned into something useful in Aus, i.e., methamphetamine, whereas here in Britain, it is just headed to relieve a snotty nose of cough... how come this discrepancy I wonder? Could it be that tincture of Iodine has recently vanished from the pharmacists shelves? Matchboxes are still widely available. Anyone else wondered about this?