Smoking tobacco is the most common addiction in Austria, ahead of drinking alcohol. About one in five people smoke every day, Gesundheit Österreich GmbH (GÖG) announced on Tuesday. However, young smokers are becoming increasingly rare.
“The share of smokers among 15-year-olds has more than halved since 2003,” says Martin Busch of GÖG. According to a ‘Survey on Drugs Use’ (2022), more than half of smokers would ‘consider’ quitting. One in ten people has already made “concrete plans” for this. “This has great potential for healthcare policy. You just have to (…) support those affected to achieve what they want.”
Nicotine products on the rise
However, ‘new nicotine products’ such as nicotine pouches and e-cigarettes are on the rise, especially among young people. In the future, more people could be addicted to nicotine.
Another widespread addiction in Austria is the consumption of alcohol. “In a European comparison we are in the top third in terms of consumption per capita,” says Julian Strizek of GÖG. About fifteen percent of the population drinks so much alcohol that it is harmful to their health. This mainly concerns men between 40 and 70 years old. For men the ‘danger limit’ is 60 grams of alcohol per day (about one and a half liters of beer or three quarters of a liter in Vienna), for women the limit is slightly lower at 40 grams (for example one liter of beer or half a liter of wine).
Here is a graph of Austrian drug deaths over time.
35,000 to 40,000 opioid addicts
The most common substance used illegally in this country is cannabis, although this is often limited to a short lifespan. About 35,000 to 40,000 people in Austria are addicted to opioids. This includes, for example, heroin. According to Busch, more than half are already in treatment, which is a great success for addiction care.
Nevertheless, fatal overdoses are becoming increasingly common. There were 248 ‘drug-related deaths’ reported in 2022. Ten years ago, 122 people died as a direct result of their drug use.
Source: Krone
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