Smoking and drinking rates in Australia are continuing their downward trend but illicit drug use has increased, a report shows.
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s drug and alcohol survey, conducted last year, showed people’s attitudes towards drug use was changing.
Fewer 12-17-year-olds were drinking alcohol, with the number abstaining increasing from 64 per cent to 72 per cent in the past three years.
Binge drinking among young people was also on the decline, but there was little change in risky drinking behaviour among those aged 40 and over, the survey showed.
Last year 6.5 per cent of Australians engaged in daily drinking, the lowest rate since 1991.
“Overall, fewer younger people are drinking alcohol,” AIHW researcher Geoff Neideck said.
“More good news is that compared to 2010, fewer people overall drank alcohol in quantities that exceeded the lifetime risk and single occasion risk guidelines in 2013.”
Despite this, almost 5 million people aged 14 or older reported being a victim of an alcohol-related incident in 2013.
Use of ice ‘more than doubled’ in three years
Mr Neideck said along with drinking rates, smoking rates were also continuing to decline.
“There was a strong fall from 2010 down from 15.1 per cent of the population to 12.8 per cent in 2013,” he said.
Mr Neideck said the smoking rate had halved since 1991.
“We’ve seen fewer younger people taking up smoking and those who do, taking it up at a later age,” he said.
“Smokers have also reduced the average number of cigarettes they smoke per week – down from 111 cigarettes in 2010 to 96 cigarettes in 2013.”
However, in the past three years the use of crystal meth, or ice, more than doubled.
The use of illicit drugs such as ecstasy and heroin dropped but there was been a rise in the number of people misusing pharmaceuticals, the survey found.
“We’ve seen declines in the use of ecstasy, heroin and GHB in 2013, but the misuse of pharmaceuticals is on the rise (from 4.2 per cent in 2010 to 4.7 in 2013),” Mr Neideck said.
“While the use of meth/amphetamine remained at a similar level to 2010, there was a major shift in the main form of meth/amphetamine used.”
The National Drug Strategy Household Survey is conducted every two to three years.