Binge drinking, drug use, health – worst among elderly?
Health Minister, Nicola Roxon, is funding a $17 million advertising campaign to combat illicit drug use in Australia, aimed at teenagers and young adults. This stage is aimed at ecstasy, ice and marijuana.
To back up the campaign, Ms Roxon used statistics from an Australian Institute of Health and Welfare(AIHW) report showing high levels of illicit drug use amongst young people.
However as online site Crikey reported, the AIHW’s National Drug Strategy Household Survey from 2007, community “recent drug use” had fallen across virtually all categories of drugs, including alcohol and tobacco, and the only age group showing steady or rising illicit drug use were over-50s and retirees.
Of the three drugs targeted by Ms Roxon, marijuana, meth-amphetamine and ecstasy use had fallen among teens but were flat or rising in older groups.
The AIHW report had also concluded that patterns of alcohol consumption across all age groups had remained broadly the same since 2004, but that high-risk alcohol consumption was a greater problem among every age group other than teens, right up to 60-year-olds.
