10/04/2013 00:00
TW
0
STAFF REPORTER OVER 45 percent of the population of the Balearic Islands says that it has no difficulty in downing five or six glasses of alcohol a day. The figures are the results of an enquiry carried out on alcohol and drug consumption throughout Spain during 2007. The findings of the research were presented yesterday by Balearic Public Health director, Margalida Buades and her counterpart in regional Drug Addiction, Elena Tejera. The principal - and positive - outcome of the investigation revealed that as each year goes by, people in the Islands consume less alcohol and other addictive substances; that forays into experimenting with drugs are undertaken at an increasingly later stage in life and that people are more aware of the health risks of consumption.


However, on the negative side, statistics showed that alcohol is the substance which is proving the most addictive in the Balearics. Of those interviewed, 91.3 percent had drunk alcohol at some stage in their lives and 15.8 said they drink some alcohol on a daily basis. Also emerging from the study was the fact that 11 percent of people in the Balearics had too much to drink over the last month, and even more worrying - the fact that 8 percent of under-age participants in the investigation confessed to having abused alcohol over the past 30 days.

In terms of illegal drugs, 46.9 percent of people taking part in the enquiry said that it was easy to get hold of cannabis in the Islands whilst 37.9 percent claimed they could get hold of cocaine and 32.1 percent responded similarly with regard to LSD.

Analysing the percentage of the population who smoke, tobacco - said the report - is the addictive substance which is first tried out by people living in the Balearics, at around the age of 16. It is also the one which is consumed in the highest quantity - 31.2 percent of the population smoke on a daily basis. Alcohol is also taken up on average at the age of 16, but cannabis “starts” a little later - at nearly 18 years of age.

In terms of which sex consumes the most addictive substances, Tejera reported that men came out as the greatest offenders except in the case of tranquilisers which are mostly taken by women. To prevent drug addiction, 89.5 percent taking part in the survey said that school education against the practice was essential, whilst 85.7 percent said that more rigorous policing would have an effect on consumption levels.