NOTHING TO WRITE HOME ABOUT –
Dec. 3, 2021 – The Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education chief executive, Caterina Giorgi, said the statistics were “concerning”, and that a clear picture of the impact of harmful alcohol use during the pandemic was only just emerging.
“Australia tops the world in both the number of times people report getting drunk and in seeking emergency medical treatment for alcohol … Both of those indicators suggest people are drinking at fairly risky levels,” she said.
“We’ve seen a steep increase, which has sustained for calls for help to drug and alcohol hotlines, and increased alcohol involvement with family violence callouts.
“There’s an emerging picture [that] there is a significant proportion of people who are drinking at riskier levels … to cope with stress and anxiety. Those habits are hard to undo as we continue to live in this Covid environment.”
