One in five of us is an addict

MOST ABUSED: ALCOHOL, PAINKILLERS AND DAGGA, CLAIMS NEW REPORT

Top of the list of substances South Africans abuse are alcohol, dagga and painkillers, with boozing alone costing the country R38 billion annually, a new report shows.

Alcohol abuse alone cost the country R37.9bn annually, says SA Medical Journal.

So prevalent is drug abuse in the country that almost 20% of South Africans – one out of every five adults – abuse mind-altering substances, with alcohol, painkillers and dagga being the most abused, according to a study published in the South African Medical Journal (SAMJ).

The annual cost to the country of alcohol abuse alone, in terms of absenteeism, lost productivity, health and welfare costs, and alcohol-related crime, is estimated at up to 10% of gross domestic product (GDP), or as much as R37.9 billion annually, claims the recent SAMJ study.

Eugene Allers of the South African Society of Psychiatrists says although alcohol and drugs cost the economy billions, the remedy is “stymied by insufficient funding and unwillingness to accept the treatment of addiction as a medical condition”.

“The treatment of these disorders needs medical interventions and accompanying psychiatric disorders need to be treated along

with the substance abuse to ensure a good outcome,” said Allers.

Although access to treatment has improved, funding is still highly problematic.

“Sobriety is no longer the only measure of success, but the ability to be free of drugs. Substance abuse and mental illness are closely related, he said, with one often leading to the other,” said Allers. –brians@citizen.co.za