The world’s first comprehensive report on global addictions has revealed that Australia is one of the top users of ecstasy and cocaine.
Australia is the leading user of ecstasy, with 3% of the population taking the drug at least once per year, compared with 1% of Brits and Americans. The world leader in cocaine use is Scotland, where 2.4% of the population uses it each year, but Australia is not far behind, with 2.1% of the population dabbling in cocaine at least once per year.
On the other hand, Australians have relatively low rates of alcohol disorders and smoking-related deaths compared with the rest of the world.
The annual prevalence of alcohol disorders in Australia is 3.7%, compared with a global average of 4.5%. The annual proportion of deaths due to tobacco in Australia is 14%, compared with 20% in the UK and 23% in the US.
Alice Klein
Scroll over the interactive graph below to see the rates of drug use as percentage of population aged 16-64.
Ecstasy use in Australia, a world high
