The Global Drug Survey of 2015 has revealed that Ireland's reputation for being a nation of drinkers is "well deserved".
According to the statistics, Ireland has "higher rates of drinkers at risk of dependence" and that we "report needing to drink more alcohol than almost any other country to get as drunk as they would want to be". The charts below show the audit score of females (the first chart) and males (the second chart), where the higher the score the more likely that people are going to be dependent on alcohol.
The survey also looked at how much people stated they needed to get drunk, and once again Ireland appears near the top of those charts also, once again showing the female (first chart) and male (second chart) levels.
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Author of the study Dr. Adam Winstock points out that "there is NOT a fine line between getting as drunk as you would want get and being more drunk than you want. It’s about a 30% line...[and] the tipping point for many people is just one or 2 drinks, so if you want to have a better, cheaper healthier night, just slow down and drink a little less".
When it comes to alcohol related injuries and admissions to accident and emergency centres, it seems that Ireland is once again at the top of the table, with 2.8% of those surveyed stating that they needed treatment after drinking too much.
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Overall, the stats on both alcohol and drug use from the survey don't paint a pretty picture of Ireland and the issues we have with mood altering substances. How do you think we can change attitudes to alcohol here in Ireland?
Via Global Drug Survey. Main pic via Jing/Flickr
