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BRITS ‘GET DRUNK’ MORE REGULARLY
THAN OTHER NATIONALITIES
BRITISH PEOPLE WHO DRINK GET DRUNK MORE
REGULARLY THAN OTHER NATIONALITIES , according to
the latest Global drug survey. Respondents in the UK
reported getting drunk 51 times a year, compared to
an average of 33 times.
Participants from other English speaking countries
such as the US, Canada and Australia also reported
getting drunk regularly – at 50, 48 and 47 times a year
respectively – while those in Chile reported getting
drunk 16 times per year. Almost 40 per cent of
participants who drank alcohol in the previous 12
months said they wanted to drink less in future.
The survey compiles from data from just under
124,000 people across more than 30 countries. Almost
60 per cent of respondents were male and 87 per cent
were white, with a mean age of 29. Sixty per cent said
they went clubbing at least four times a year.
Of the 20,000 people who completed the section on
cocaine use, less than 9 per cent reported using the
drug on a weekly basis, but 65 per cent said they’d
used it up to ten times in the previous year. Just over 1
per cent had needed to seek emergency medical
treatment following cocaine use, while more than 70
per cent of those who’d recently used it said they
would support a ‘regulated fair-trade’ market, with
most willing to pay more.
Use of MDMA powder, meanwhile, is now as
common as ecstasy pills, although almost three
quarters of people who took MDMA reported doing so
on ten or fewer occasions. Use of the ‘dark net’ to buy
drugs was also on the rise, with more than a quarter of
people who’d bought drugs that way doing so for the
first time in 2018. MDMA, LSD and cannabis were the
most frequently purchased substances.
One third of female respondents reported having
been taken advantage of sexually at some point while
under the influence of alcohol or drugs, and 8 per cent
within the last year – the rates for men were 6 per cent
and 2 per cent respectively. Alcohol was involved in
almost 90 per cent of overall cases.
Of the more than 52,000 respondents who
with daily doses of almost double those
commonly used in clinical practice required for
optimal levels of methadone in the blood,’ said
Aston University’s Dr Raj K. Singh Badhan.
Study at www.journals.elsevier.com/drug-and-
alcohol-dependence
OECD OPIOIDS
OPIOID-RELATED DEATHS ACROSS 25 OECD
COUNTRIES INCREASED by more than 20 per
cent between 2011 and 2016, according to
an OECD report, with the rise most
pronounced in the US, Canada, Sweden,
Norway, Ireland and the UK. Opioid
overprescribing is ‘considered one of the
most important root causes of the crisis’, it
says, with 240m opioid prescriptions
dispensed in the US in 2015 – ‘nearly one for
every adult in the general population’.
Addressing problematic opioid use in OECD
countries at www.oecd.org
Respondents in the uk
reported getting drunk 51
times a year, compared to an
average of 33 times
completed the survey’s policing section, almost a
quarter reported that they had ‘encountered police’ in
relation to their drug use in the last year, including
stop and search, roadside testing and use of drug dogs.
People in Australia and Denmark were most likely to
have had dealings with the police, and those in New
Zealand the least. Most people, however, had
favourable attitudes towards the police, the document
states. ‘For example 50 per cent of respondents (who
are all people who use drugs) said police
frequently/somewhat frequently treat people with
dignity and respect. But those who have been recently
policed had less favourable attitudes, and were less
likely to report they would help the police if asked.’
Results at www.globaldrugsurvey.com
CAPE CRUSADERS
A NEW INITIATIVE TO HELP CHILDREN
AFFECTED BY PARENTAL ALCOHOL MISUSE has
been launched by the Children’s Society. CAPE
(Children of Alcoholic Parents Engagement)
provides training, workshops and free online
resources to help professionals identify
children at risk and increase awareness and
understanding. ‘Having a parent or carer who
is dependent on alcohol can be extremely
distressing and isolating for a young person
and have a huge impact on their welfare and
wellbeing,’ said Children’s Society director of
national operations Nerys Anthony. ‘Our new
CAPE programme is designed to give anyone
who works directly with a young person the
expert tools and knowledge they need to
support them, so that these vulnerable young
people are recognised and receive the
support they need.’
www.childrenssociety.org.uk/parental-alcohol-
misuse
GAMBLING GAINS
DOSE DECISIONS
STREET SCENES
SUBMISSIONS ARE OPEN for
this year’s Recovery Street Film
Festival until 1 August. Films
www.drinkanddrugsnews.com
should be no longer than
three minutes, with prizes for
the top three winning entries.
Full details at rsff.co.uk
METHADONE DOSE OPTIMISATION is vital
when treating people on opioid substitution
programmes for tuberculosis (TB) and other
conditions, according to researchers at Aston
University in partnership with Addaction. Anti-
TB drug rifampicin is known to increase the
breakdown of methadone in the body,
meaning that methadone levels need to be
gradually increased and then decreased after
the TB treatment ends, with a range of
medications for HIV and epilepsy causing
similar interactions. ‘We found that rifampicin
significantly alters the level of methadone in
the blood and necessitates dose adjustments,
A COMPULSORY LEVY SHOULD BE PLACED ON
THE GAMBLING INDUSTRY to support people
with gambling problems, according to a report
in the BMJ. The paper also wants to see the
2005 Gambling Act revised and responsibility
for gambling moved from the Department for
Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to
the Department of Health and Social Care
(DHSC). There are currently 33m active online
gambling accounts in Britain, with the extent
and cost of UK gambling ‘significantly’
underestimated. ‘Simply stating that
gambling is a public health concern is not
enough,’ says the report. ‘It must also be
treated as one.’ Gambling and public health at
www.bmj.com
June 2019 | drinkanddrugsnews | 5