Sam Biondo—Alcohol and Drug Problems in Australia
Sam gave a wide range of statistics about the impact of alcohol and other drugs. These included the financial cost, the number of people hospitalized, the number in treatment, the number of ambulance call outs and the number of deaths.
While ice is an important problem and gets a lot of media attention, its impact is smaller than other substances. Alcohol is the biggest problem, followed by benzodiazepines, opioids (including heroin), cannabis and then ice.
Use of methamphetamines is stable, but its purity has increased, leading to higher doses and problems for police and ambulance services.
Sam noted the importance of the misuse of prescription drugs, particularly benzodiazepines and opiods. These are over-prescribed and lead to deaths. To put it into perspective, the Victorian coroner found 310 deaths due to prescription drugs last year versus 93 for alcohol. Victoria has been slow to deal with this, unlike Tasmania. There is a need for doctors and pharmacists to monitor each other and watch for doctor shopping to get prescription drugs.
Despite the larger problems of abuse of alcohol and prescription drugs, there are not in the headlines as much as ice.