NEW ZEALAND HEALTH INFORMATION SERVICE

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This publication gathers in one place a diverse range of statistics relating to drugs and drug use in New Zealand. The primary focus is on those drugs that are used recreationally or due to dependence.

Selected facts from the publication:

Alcohol

• The total volume of alcoholic beverages available for consumption decreased over the 1990–2000 period by 3 percent to 418.5 million litres in the year ending June 2000. However, the total volume of absolute alcohol available for consumption increased by 1 percent, to 26.3 million litres, during this 10-year period.
• Alcoholic drinks have increased steadily in price over the 1990–2000 period, with annual increases ranging between 1 and 3 percent, and prices rising by a total of 22 percent from June 1990 to June 2000. Over the same 10 years, there was 11 percent less absolute alcohol available per person aged 15 years and over. Overall, as alcohol increased in price, alcohol available for consumption decreased.
• According to the 1995 National Alcohol Survey, 87 percent of people aged 14 to 65 years had consumed alcohol in the previous 12 months. The survey also found that 80 percent of Māori (83 percent of men and 78 percent of women) had consumed alcohol in the previous 12 months. The annual Auckland Alcohol Survey showed that in the 1990s, 59 percent of Pacific peoples had consumed alcohol in the past year.
• The most commonly reported consequence of one’s own drinking in the past 12 months was a hangover (51 percent of men, 33 percent of women). Ten percent of males reported physical assault as a problem experienced due to other people's drinking. Eleven percent of women reported sexual harassment as a problem experienced as the result of someone else’s drinking.
• In 1998 there were 1876 prosecutions for offences under the Sale of Liquor Act. Approximately 64 percent (1201) of these prosecutions resulted in a conviction.
• In 1998 there were 26,512 prosecutions for traffic offences involving alcohol. Approximately 91 percent (24,059) of these prosecutions resulted in a conviction.
• There were 142 deaths in 1997 where the underlying cause of death was an alcohol-related condition. The age-standardised mortality rate due to alcohol-related conditions was 3.3 per 100,000 population.
• Ten percent of deaths due to external causes (eg, falls, motor vehicle accidents, suicide) involved a positive blood alcohol concentration in the deceased.
• Eleven percent of female drivers and 21 percent of male drivers involved in fatal car crashes over the 1996–98 period had alcohol involvement. Overall, drinking drivers contributed to 23 percent of all fatal motor vehicle accidents and 14 percent of all injury motor vehicle accidents in the year ended December 1999.
• Alcohol was involved in 19 percent of all drownings over the period 1980–99.
• There were 8551 publicly funded hospitalisations in 1998 where a diagnosis of an alcohol-related condition or alcohol involvement was made. The age-standardised hospitalisation rate was 198.1 per 100,000 population.

• There was a 20 percent decrease in cigarette equivalents released for consumption between 1989 and 1999. Over this time loose tobacco increased as a proportion of total cigarette equivalents released for consumption, from 11 percent in 1989 to 19 percent in 1999.
• Between September 1989 and May 2000, the price of a packet of 20 cigarettes increased from $4.10 to $8.50.
• There was a 30 percent decrease in cigarette equivalents released per adult (aged 15 years and over) between 1989 and 1999.
• Approximately one in four adults (26 percent) were cigarette smokers according to the 1999 A C Nielsen survey undertaken for the Ministry of Health. Smoking by males (26 percent) and females (25 percent) was relatively similar, although smoking by women aged 15 to 24 is higher than for males of the same age.
• An Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) national survey of fourth form school students has reported regular (daily or weekly) smoking prevalence figures for 1992, 1997, 1998 and 1999 at 18, 25, 24, and 23 percent respectively for girls, and 16, 18, 19 and 19 percent respectively for boys.
• In 1990, 4500 deaths in New Zealand were attributed to tobacco smoking, accounting for 18 percent of all deaths. In 1996, approximately 4700 deaths were attributed to tobacco smoking, accounting for 17 percent of all deaths.
• There are about 388 deaths attributable to second-hand smoke (“passive smoking”) in New Zealand each year according to a report prepared for the Ministry of Health in September 2000. This represents an additional 8 percent over and above deaths due to direct smoking. The estimated figure of 388 deaths per year attributable to second-hand smoke represents about three-quarters of the number of people killed each year on the roads in New Zealand in recent years.
• A number of studies have been undertaken in New Zealand, by the National Research Bureau among others, into people’s beliefs about the health effects of second-hand smoke, and their attitudes towards second-hand smoke. These studies show a generally high acceptance of the need for controls on smoking in public places and workplaces and that a large percentage of the public find exposure to second-hand smoke to be bothersome.

• Marijuana is the third most popular recreational drug in New Zealand after alcohol and tobacco (excluding caffeine).
• In the 1998 National Drugs Survey, 43 percent of males and 27 percent of females aged 18 to 24 years had used marijuana in the preceding 12 months. Most of those who stated that they had tried marijuana had been introduced to the drug at between 14 and 18 years of age.
• About 70 percent of prosecutions (18,720 prosecutions) for offences involving cannabis resulted in a conviction (13,120 convictions) in 1998. Approximately 85 percent of convictions for cannabis offences each year are of males.
• In 1998 the largest number of convictions were for those between 30 and 39 years old (30 percent of all convicted cases). The age group with the second highest proportion was those aged 20 to 24 years, with 24 percent of all convicted cases.
• There were seven deaths over the period 1990-96 where a cannabis-related condition such as drug abuse or dependence was the underlying cause of death.
• There were 2722 cannabis-related hospitalisations over the period from 1996 to 1998. There were 4.5 publicly funded hospitalisations per 100,000 population in 1998 where a diagnosis of a cannabis-related condition or poisoning was recorded.

• Opium and its derivatives had been tried by 4 percent of surveyed respondents in the 1998 National Drug Survey, with 1 percent stating that they had used one or more forms of this drug in the previous 12 months.
• Thirteen percent of National Drug Survey respondents in 1998 stated that they had tried hallucinogens at some time. Five percent stated that they had used these drugs in the past 12 months. In the Regional Drugs Surveys, the percentage of 18-to-24-year-olds that had used LSD in the previous year grew from 5 percent in 1990 to 11 percent in 1998.
• Nine percent of respondents in the 1998 National Drugs Survey (11 percent of men, 7 percent of women) had tried stimulants at some time. Three percent had used stimulants in the last year.
• There were 2012 apprehensions in 2000 for offences related to illicit drugs other than cannabis. The number of prosecutions in 1998 was 1829, resulting in 1049 convictions.
• There were 156 deaths in the period 1990–96 where opiate-related conditions or poisonings were the underlying cause of death.
• There were two deaths between 1990 and 1996 where a hallucinogen (in combination with other drugs) was the underlying cause of death.
• Over the three-year period from 1996 to 1998 there were 3955 opiate-related publicly funded hospitalisations.
• Over the three-year period from 1996 to 1998 there were 343 hallucinogen-related publicly funded hospitalisations.
• Over the three-year period from 1996 to 1998 there were 109 stimulant-related publicly funded hospitalisations. Twenty-three of these were due to cocaine, with the rest due to amphetamines.

• In the 1998 National Drug Survey, approximately 2 percent of those surveyed stated that they had ever tried tranquillisers for recreational purposes, with a similar proportion having ever tried solvents. Fewer than 1 percent had used tranquillisers in the previous 12 months and fewer than 1 percent used solvents in the previous 12 months.
• Of 994 sporting-related drug tests undertaken in the period from 1 July 1997 to 30 June 1998, only 12 doping infractions were detected and only four competitors failed to provide samples.
• Seventy-one percent of top sports competitors have been tested at least once in their history as competitors. Forty-four percent of competitors have been tested once in the last 12 months.
• There were 148 deaths in the period 1990 to 1996 where depressant-related conditions were the underlying cause of death. Thirty-five of these deaths were specifically due to solvents.
• Over the three-year period from 1996 to 1998 there were 9271 publicly funded hospitalisations that involved depressant-related conditions and/or poisoning by a depressant as the reason for admission or as a secondary diagnosis. Of these hospitalisations, 531 involved a solvent-related condition and/or poisoning.

The full publication can be downloaded as a PDF file (664 kB).

Alternatively, to order the printed publication, e-mail nzhis-pub@moh.govt.nz or contact the Publications Officer, NZHIS, PO Box 5013, Wellington, phone (04) 496 2000, fax (04) 496 2340.

Published 2001
112 pages, A4
A limited number of hardcopy publications are available free of charge
ISBN 0-478-26164-0 (print version), ISBN 0-478-26165-9 (online version)

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