Brits get tanked up north
SALFORD and Manchester have the highest number of alcoholics in the UK.
And nine out of the top 10 areas for people taking medication to kick the booze are in the north.
Salford dishes out five times more prescriptions for the drugs than the national average.
NHS figures show that last year 1,534 prescriptions were given to every 100,000 people in the city – 40 times the rate in Horsham and Mid Sussex which had the lowest number on the drug.
Second and third on the list of booze addict hotspots behind Salford are the neighbouring areas of south and north Manchester.
Doctors prescribe medication to people struggling to stay off booze in the hope that it softens the chemical imbalance in their brain which makes them want to go back to the bottle.
Other towns towards the top of the chart of people on pills to help them tackle a booze problem are Rotherham, Wigan and Sheffield.
The only area in the top 10 not in the north is Norwich in East Anglia.
In the south, troubled places for booze addiction include Brighton and Hove, while Telford and Wrekin is the worst hit in the Midlands.
The figures show that last year a total of 188,000 prescriptions for this type of medication, the most popular of which is Acamprosate calcium, were issued by doctors at a cost of £4.9million to the health service.
The amount spent on the drug has almost doubled from £2.5million five years ago, while the number of prescriptions being issued has increased by 12% in the same period.
The NHS says about
7,000 people die every year due to alcohol abuse.
And the nation’s booze bill is now
£19billion a year. Rosanna O’Connor, Director of Drugs, Alcohol and Tobacco at Public Health England, said: “These medicines can help reduce cravings but should be used in a comprehensive package for treating alcohol dependence.”
A spokesman for the charity Addaction said: “Our advice to anyone worried about their own or a loved one’s alcohol use would be to talk to someone.”