Drug use of any kind carries risks — but according to a new study that took account of the most thorough and latest available data, legal drugs pose much greater dangers to society than drugs of an illicit nature.
The "Global Statistics on Addictive Behaviours: 2014 Status Report" compiled information about global addictive disorders, collating and assessing existing estimates to gauge the extent of problems both broadly and across different regions.
In the study published in the journal Addiction, associate professor Linda Gowing and colleagues from South Australia's University of Adelaide showed that alcohol use is estimated to result in the loss of 257 disability-adjusted life years per 100,000 population, as compared with only 83 for illicit drugs.
Smoking tobacco is one of the greatest health dangers, catapulting the odds for cancer, heart disease, gum infection and early death. In spite the risks, over 20 percent of the global adult population – or an equivalent of 1 billion people – have the habit.
Eastern Europe had the highest share of smokers at 30 percent of the adult population. They're followed by Oceania at 29.5 percent and Western Europe at 28.5 percent.
"An estimated 22.5% of adults in the world (1 billion people) smoke tobacco products (32.0% of men and 7.0% of women)," the researchers wrote. "It is estimated that 11% of deaths in males and 6% of deaths in females each year are due to tobacco."
The researchers added that Australians are lighter smokers than the British, though the habit is still relatively common, with 20 percent of the Australians smoking tobacco at least once a year. Twenty-two percent of the British smoke at least once a year as well.
The findings were based in online information about the prevalence and harms associated with tobacco use, alcohol use, gambling and the unsanctioned use of psychoactive drugs. Gowing said that alcohol and tobacco use are currently the most prevalent forms of addictive behaviors globally — and that they cause the most harm.
Almost 5 percent of the world's adult, or 240 million people, suffer from alcohol use disorder. By contrast, the number of people worldwide who inject drugs is estimated to be about 15 million.
The researchers said that while their study has limitations, they believe the information they have compiled will be helpful for governments and international agencies in developing policies aimed at addressing addiction problems, which they described as one of the "greatest scourges on humankind."
"Bringing all this data together has been very challenging but having this global snapshot in one accessible resource should prove invaluable for policymakers and researchers," Gowing said.
