Interesting drug and alcohol facts July 2016

Alcohol pricing, Socttish needle exchanges and deaths in custody

This is the latest post in a monthly series reproducing Andrew Brown’s monthly slideshare of interesting new facts about alcohol and other drugs which he has unearthed from a wide range of reports.

Andrew works for MEAM/Making Every Adult Matter, the coalition of three national charities (Clinks, Homeless Link and Mind) who champion the cause of people experiencing multiple needs and who have been kind enough to allow Andrew’s monthly slideshares to be re-published here.

This month’s slides focus on alcohol pricing and cover Scottish needle exchanges, drug use and deaths in custody and global trends in drug dependency.

Some of the key facts I learnt were:

• More than one third (36%) of the volume of alcohol sold in English and Welsh off-licences was at below 45p per unit of alcohol;
• Over half (54%) of the strong ciders sold from these outlets were sold at below 20p per unit;
• The UNODC (United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime) estimates that in 2014 29 million people worldwide had a drug problem;
• 19% people know someone who drives when over the legal alcohol limit and
• 12% people know someone who drives after smoking cannabis