A LEADING charity working to help tackle the problems of addiction will today hold a conference marking 40 years in the field and some of the statistics to be highlighted at the event are truly frightening.
All of the figures indicate what most will already suspect – that the effects of addiction to drugs and alcohol are leading to illness and death on an ever-increasing scale.
In 2017 there were 136 drugs-related deaths here. That is a 60 per cent increase over a 10-year period. Alcohol related deaths two years ago were recorded at 303, that is a 70 per cent increase since such figures began being recorded in 2001.
A spokesman for Addiction NI is calling for closer co-operation between government agencies and local communities to give more information about services and just as importantly to increase the ability to provide those services.
The spokesman claimed that there has been an under-investment in mental health services over the past 40 years and that that lack of funding was helping to fuel the growing use of drugs and alcohol.
While there are many demands on the public purse, it is difficult to think of a social problem which has such a widespread and growing impact on society.
Addiction NI points out that those who use drugs and drink affect not just themselves but their behaviour also impacts on their families, friends and wider communities.
Those effects can range from things like petty crime to fund habits to spiralling health costs helping addicts recover physically and psychologically.
The charity has called for a 'joined-up' approach by government agencies at community level and claims that it could make all the difference to helping individuals, indeed, whole communities.
What is clear from the statistics on drug and alcohol-abuse is that we cannot as a society afford to do nothing unless we want to see more and more needless deaths.
