Ireland’s boozy reputation ‘well deserved’

Ireland’s reputation for heavy drinking is “well deserved”, with an international survey finding we have the highest number of people seeking medical treatment after drinking.

The Global Drug Survey 2015 questioned more than 100,000 people in more than 50 countries, including almost 2,400 in Ireland.

It found that 2.8% of respondents in Ireland sought emergency medical assistance after drinking — the highest of all countries surveyed.

It was ahead of Brazil (2.2%), Britain (1.6%), and France, Poland, and Belgium (all 1.5%), and over three times the rate of Germany (0.8%) and Spain (0.7%).

The main reasons cited for seeking medical help were accidents, injuries, nausea, passing out, poor mood, memory loss, violence, and self-harm.

The GDS is an independent organisation, comprising academics and health professionals, and is led by London-based consultant addiction psychiatrist Adam Winstock.

The anonymous online survey was conducted last November and December. Dr Winstock said it was not a random sample of the general population, but of people “self-nominating” themselves. He said the bias was towards active drug users and the younger, more educated, population.

The survey showed alcohol dependency also puts Ireland in top spot, higher than Poland and double the rate of the UK.

“Ireland’s reputation for heavy drinking is well deserved,” said Dr Winstock, who added that “2.8% of Irish people report seeking emergency medical treatment, way higher than other countries”.

Dr Winstock told the Irish Examiner that dependence levels in Ireland were “much higher than anywhere else”.

He said another finding that worried him was that Irish people reported needing to drink more than any other nationality to get the feeling they wanted and that they were getting more drunk than anyone else.

However, Ireland also has the highest proportion of drinkers, at 38%, who wanted to drink less in the coming year.

Dr Winstock said Ireland had an “uncomfortable relationship with alcohol” and the volume of alcohol both women and men said they needed to get the feeling they wanted was equivalent to their recommended maximum weekly intake.

“What these findings say to me is that, as a nation, ‘we like drinking, we are aware of the negative impact and as a nation we’d like to drink less’,” said Dr Winstock.

He said there was a need for a public health message for drinkers to tell them “to slow down”.

The survey showed 3.3% of respondents in Ireland used new psychoactive substances, also known as legal highs, within the last year.

This placed Ireland near the bottom of the ladder. Prevalence studies from five years ago, just as legal highs were banned here, put Ireland in top spot.

www.globaldrugsurvey.com; www.drinksmeter.com