Less smokers but more drug addicts: Australian population survey

By Dr. Ananya Mandal, MDJul 26 2011

According to Australian Institute of Health and Welfare's National Drug Strategy Household Survey, the number of smokers has fallen but cocaine use among young women has shot up over the last three years.

The survey report says one in twenty women aged 20 to 29 have taken cocaine recently. The number of women who have used a dealer to buy cocaine has increased since 2007, which suggests that women are actively seeking out the drug. The report adds that cocaine use was still higher among men but the increase in their use was less steep. On the other hand Ecstasy use declined for the first time since 1995, with cocaine now the drug of choice among educated, high-earners.

Overall drug use was up, with 14.7 per cent of Australians aged 14 and over having taken something in the past 12 months - a jump from 13.4 per cent in 2007. Also one in five drank an average of more than two standards drinks in a day - that figure hasn't changed in three years. But alcohol consumption dropped among teenagers aged 12 to 17. But more pregnant women are heeding the health message about alcohol, with 52 per cent abstaining from alcohol last year compared with 40 per cent in 2007. The impact of alcohol use on others worsened in the past three years, the AIHW survey shows, with the proportion of people reporting they were physically abused by a person under the influence of alcohol increasing from 4.5 per cent to 8.1 per cent.

This survey involved 26,000 people. It showed that the proportion of people aged 14 and over smoking daily is 15.1 per cent, down from 16.6 per cent three years ago and 25 per cent in 1993. The biggest declines in daily smoking are among people in their early 20s to mid-40s, but for over-45s the proportion remained relatively stable, and for some age groups increased slightly. AIHW spokesman Brent Diverty said, “This . . . is encouraging, as tobacco smoking is the single most preventable cause of ill-health and death.” Speaking of drug use he added, “The ones where we are seeing the small increases include cannabis, marijuana, using pharmaceuticals for non-medical purposes, cocaine and hallucinogens.”