Adolescent addiction admissions to rise 70%

A leading addiction service is predicting a 70% jump in admissions to its adolescent centre this year.

Aiséirí treatment service said alcohol was the primary drug of addiction for more than half of all admissions — adolescents and adults combined. It has called on the Government not to cut excise duty on alcohol in next week’s budget.

Chief executive Paul Conlon said admissions among adult women could increase by as much as 64% this year.

Launching the 2013 annual report, Mr Conlon said there were 119 admissions to their specialist adolescent centre last year.

He said there were 101 for the first six months of this year and one in three were aged between 15 and 17.

Mr Conlon said that if the trend continued, the number of adolescents attending their Kilkenny-based service would rise by up to 70%.

Figures for 2013 show cannabis accounted for 62% of admissions to the adolescent centre which caters for 15 to 21-year-olds.

Alcohol was the primary drug in 17% of cases, but many of the cannabis cases involved polydrug users.

Almost three quarters of adult admissions were for alcohol addiction (238 out of 325 cases).

Mr Conlon said 30% of adult admissions were women in 2013, but the figure in one of its units, last June, was 43%. Aiséirí has adult units in Tipperary, Wexford and Waterford.

He pointed out one in four deaths in Ireland in young men aged, 15 to 34, had been due to alcohol.

Mr Conlon urged the Government not to reduce excise duty on alcohol and called for the introduction of minimum pricing and restricted availability of alcohol. “If the price of alcohol goes down, the risk of alcohol harm and addiction goes up, particularly for vulnerable groups like young people and women,” Mr Conlon said.

“It would be irresponsible of the Government to introduce anything that would make alcohol cheaper or more accessible. We are seeing the tragic consequences of Ireland’s drink love-in and it is far from being ‘great craic’ for many individuals and families.”

He said that lowering the price of alcohol by reducing excise, particularly in supermarkets and the off-trade, would greatly increase the risks for those with less money as well as those more likely to binge drink along with women, who are more likely to purchase alcohol at the supermarket.

Mr Conlon said the rise in the number of women being admitted was worrying as they experienced greater health risks from alcohol than men and the onset of drink-related health problems began earlier.

Alcohol Action Ireland has also called on the Government not to cut excise duties, while the Drinks Industry Group of Ireland and the National Off-Licence Association have highlighted the economic damage from excise duty.

• Contact Aiséirí on 052-7441166 or visit www.aiseiri.ie