PREVALENCE OF ALCOHOL AND DRUG MISUSE AND STAGES OF MISUSE

Alcohol misuse has historically been a problem in Australian society. This form of misuse has had a considerable impact on the workplace.

A recent report by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare estimates that alcohol misuse costs Australian workplaces $1.9 billion a year excluding other alcohol related costs. If the costs of alcohol related accidents, violence and disease are included the damage bill rises to an estimated $7.6 billion per annum.

The report states:

90% of workers are drinkers, and about half drink at levels associated with risk of harm, at least occasionally

17% of workers have a binge-drinking episode at least monthly that puts them at risk of harm, including injury or death

9% had such an episode weekly

7% of the workforce have gone to work under the influence of alcohol at least once in a 12-month period

4% of workers had at least one day off work in a three-month period because of alcohol misuse. Drinkers who regularly consume high levels of alcohol are up to 19 times more likely to take a day off work than lighter drinkers

1 in 5 workers report being put in fear, verbally or physically abused by a person affected by alcohol or drugs

15% of these incidents occur in the workplace but the culprit is more likely to be a customer rather than a co-worker

The report identifies various working groups as more likely to misuse alcohol in a way that causes short term or long term damage. By way of example "Mining industry workers showed a tendency to drink large amounts quickly, adding to their short-term risk of harm from violence, social disruptions, and accidents".

The impact of other substance misuse has grown exponentially over the past four to five decades. The growth in the misuse of licit and illicit drugs has resulted in ever increasing use of drug testing regimes and interest in counseling processes and programs to address substance misuse.

Workplace Health and Safety legislation has made it imperative that employers ensure safety in the workplace. Employers endeavor to minimize the impact of alcohol and substance misuse through development of drug testing regimes and through the provision of appropriate substance misuse education, counseling and program intervention.

The following information provides some insight into the extent of the substance misuse problem in Australia. The information has been sourced from The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2001 National Drug Strategy Survey: State and Territory Supplement (August 2001); The National Drug Strategy Framework 1998-1999 to 2002-2003 (page 10) and the National Drug Strategy Household Survey (pages 66-68.)

The illicit drug most often used is cannabis. The age group with highest prevalence for cannabis was 14-24 for both males and females. Estimated use for males in this age group was 32% and females 25%.

The Australian population in general had a drug misuse rate for illicit drugs that fluctuated between 17% and 22% between 1998 and 2003.

One of these reports estimated that there were 90,800 drug users who injected in 2000-2001.

According to the above mentioned reports poly drug abuse is a growing trend among some population groups. Poly drug abuse refers to the use of more than one psychoactive drug simultaneously or at different times. The drugs involved are principally Alcohol, amphetamines, ecstasy, heroin, cannabis, cocaine, tranquilizers and other pharmaceuticals.

Despite the risks of poly drug use it has become the norm among many drug using groups. For instance, among ecstasy users 93% report using other drugs in conjunction with ecstasy.

In addition a higher proportion of those in the 14-19 age bracket used ecstasy or designer drugs every day compared with an every week use by other age bracket users. The extent of the drug misuse problem was the subject of a major news item in Brisbanes Courier Mail. The article claimed that "Illegal drugs including cocaine and ecstasy have penetrated almost every level of society".

The article referred to the use of "accredited police tests" which found "drugs almost everywhere from restaurants to trendy bars, and public places"

Further, Professor Jake Najman from the University of Queensland said the use of illicit substances is becoming "extraordinarily common." "The Notion that you’re looking at unusual and rare behavior is incorrect" he said.

The following categorizations are the result of decades of counseling and observation by the writer which tend to indicate various categories of alcohol and substance misuse.

THE EXPERIMENTER - TOP

Aged between early teens and early twenties, many young people misuse alcohol and drugs as part of their "rights of passage" process. Some of these young people become recreational users whilst others either binge or become addicted.

The experimenter tends to mix alcohol with poly drug misuse. Statistical information indicates that a vast majority of young people will use marihuana at some time during this "rights of passage" period.

RECREATIONAL USERS - TOP

This group of people overlap the experimenters and can be as old as their late forties. However, they have passed the experimental stage and tend to use illicit substances in much the same way as many in the mainstream of society traditionally use alcohol.

However, the recreational use of illicit drugs and particularly Marihuana, is more prevalent in the twenty to thirty five year age bracket.

BINGE USERS - TOP

This group may not be regular users of alcohol or drugs but overindulge when they do use these substances. Anecdotal evidence tends to confirm that the age bracket for this group is similar to recreational users with an emphasis on the twenty to thirty year age bracket and that many of these young adults have professional careers or hold down other forms of responsible employment.

There may be little or no signs of substance misuse in the work place to differentiate this group from their cohorts who do not misuse alcohol or drugs as their binges tend to occur on week ends/days off.

SELF MEDICATORS - TOP

These are a group in the community that tend to cross all age groups who misuse alcohol or drugs to self medicate in order to manage the emotional or physical pain they are suffering.

Emotional pain is caused by past events in their lives such as physical, emotional or sexual abuse.

Self medication can also apply to some people who are having difficulties in managing stress in their lives. Examples of these stressful situation include marital or relationship breakdown, family illness or a death in the family, workplace bullying, frustrations caused by lack of direction or progress in their employment careers or physical illness.

ALCOHOLICS AND ADDICTS - TOP

This group has passed the recreational and binge stages and have come to rely on alcohol or substance manage their everyday lives.

Some of these people still maintain regular employment whilst others spend most of their waking hours either acquiring funds to purchase substances or misusing them.

Many of this group tend to associate, for the most part, with people at a similar stage of misuse and many of them have severed social and family ties due to their social and at times criminal misbehavior.