According to The National Drug Strategy Household Survey released today by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare In 2013, over 40% of Australians smoked daily, drank alcohol in ways that put them at risk of harm or used an illicit drug in the previous 12 months. AIHW spokesperson Geoff Neideck explained that the report shows that there is often a relationship between daily smoking, risky drinking and recent illicit drug use, with almost 11% of Australians reporting 2 or more of these risky behaviours and about 3% of engaged in all 3 behaviours.
‘Half (49%) of daily smokers had consumed alcohol at risky quantities, (either more than 2 standard drinks a day on average or more than 4 on a single occasion at least once a month),’ Mr Neideck commented ‘Over one-third (37%) of daily smokers had used an illicit drug in the previous 12 months, 60% of recent illicit drug users also drank alcohol in risky quantities and 31% smoked daily.’
Mr Neideck explained that Daily tobacco smoking and risky drinking also rose with increasing remoteness, and the overall decline in daily smoking rates between 2010 and 2013 was only significant for people living in Major cities. People living in Remote and Very Remote areas were twice as likely to have used methamphetamines in 2013 as people in non-remote areas.
Mr Neideck pointed out that there were statistically significant declines in daily tobacco smoking in New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia, while the proportion of daily smokers in the Northern Territory (22%) was more than double the proportion in the ACT (9.9%). ‘Patterns of risky drinking varied across jurisdictions, for example, people in the Northern Territory and Western Australia were more likely to consume alcohol in quantities that placed them at risk of an alcohol-related disease, illness or injury,’ Mr Neideck said.