Book Description

"Alcohol is the most widely used psychoactive drug in Australia. The 2007 National Drug Strategy Household Survey (NDSHS) estimated that 82.9% of Australians aged over 14 years, had consumed alcohol in the previous 12 months, with only 10.1% having never consumed at least one standard drink of alcohol. The NDSHS also found that 20.4% of Australians (23.7% of males and 17.2% females) consumed alcohol at risky or high risk levels according to the 2001 Australian Alcohol Guidelines. Begg and colleagues have calculated the burden of disease in Australia associated with alcohol. They estimated that in 2003, alcohol contributed to 3.2% of the burden of disease and prevented 0.9% of disease and injury (although serious doubt has been cast on the extent to which alcohol 'prevents' disease - with the largest contribution being to the level of disease and injury among males under 45 years. They also found that, in addition to impacting on physical and psychological health, harmful levels of alcohol use contributed to social harms, including child abuse and neglect, interpersonal violence and homicide, and suicide and selfinflicted harm. Collins and Lapsley estimate that in 2004-5, the social cost of drug use in Australia was a massive $55.2 billion, with alcohol alone contributing to 27.3%, and alcohol combined with illicit drugs adding a further 1.9% to the social costs from harmful drug use. Indigenous Australians constitute 2.6% of Australia's population. However, they experience health and social problems resulting from alcohol use at a rate disproportionate to non-Indigenous Australians. Vos and colleagues estimated that the burden of disease associated with alcohol use by Indigenous Australians is almost double that of the general Australian population. In 2003, alcohol accounted for 6.2% of the overall burden of disease among Indigenous Australians, while preventing only 0.8% of this burden. Indigenous Australians are acutely aware of the costs of alcohol and have been actively involved in responding to alcohol misuse in their communities. In this paper, we explore alcohol use in an Indigenous Australian context through examining: the extent and level of use and related harms; factors associated with such harms, including the structural determinants of health and the historical context of such use; current interventions and their effectiveness; and, possible pathways forward for Indigenous-specific substance use interventions in Australia."--[Page 1].