Alcohol and other drugs Amber Jefferson Drug Surveys and Services Unit

Overview Why are we interested in alcohol and other drugs? Use, risk, poor health, deaths Reducing use and receiving treatment

Why alcohol? National preventative health priority Excessive alcohol consumption  disease and other harms Alcohol harm  3,430 deaths in 2003 Costs: $15.3 billion in

Alcohol use over time

Risk Harm in the short term Males: 7 or more standard drinks Females: 5 or more standard drinks On any one occasion Harm in the long term Males: 29 or more standard drinks Females: 15 or more standard drinks Per week on average

Risk

Apparent alcohol consumption

Reduction Almost half of recent drinkers had tried to reduce their alcohol consumption Of those, 8.3% stopped, 7.4% switched to more low alcohol drinks Most common – reduce number of sessions (29.4%) and reduce number of drinks in one session (29.0%)

Why illicit drugs? Bloodborne viruses, low birthweight babies, poorer mental health, overdose and suicide Risk factor for ill health and death Illicit drug use  1,705 deaths in 2003 Costs: $8.2 billion in

Illicit drug use

Injecting drug use

Treatment over time

Treatment by age

Summary Most people drink alcohol, many are at increased risk of disease and injury Most people don’t use illicit drugs, those that do mostly use cannabis Needle and syringe receptive sharing has remained stable over the last 5 years More treatment is being provided