Seek high consumption of alcohol & cigarettes

Alcohol and cigarettes: million addicts in Germany

04/24/2014

More than 70,000 people die every year in Germany as a result of alcohol consumption or the combination of risky drinking and smoking. This is from the just published „Yearbook addiction 2014“ out. Thus, these legal drugs would have more drastic effects than the illegal ones.

Alcohol and cigarettes are part of everyday life for many Germans
Family celebrations, watching football, barbecues, going out to dinner: Hardly any of these events take place without the consumption of beer or wine. Alcohol and cigarettes are part of everyday life for many Germans. The majority of people certainly do not think about the drastic effects of these stimulants. Every year tens of thousands die from the consequences of this combination. This is from the „Yearbook addiction 2014“ which has just been published by the German Center for Addiction Issues (DHS).

A bathtub full of alcoholic drinks a year
As stated in the yearbook presented in Berlin, in 2012 every German citizen drank around 135 liters of alcoholic beverages on average. At the top was beer with 105.5 liters, followed by wine with 20.4 liters. The total consumption, which easily fills a whole tub per capita, has therefore remained virtually unchanged since 2007. The number of alcoholics in Germany has actually increased significantly in recent years. So has the „Epidemiological Search Survey“, which was commissioned by the Federal Ministry of Health a few months ago by the Institute for Therapy Research in Munich, found that today nearly 1.8 million Germans are alcohol dependent.

Legal drugs have more drastic effects than illegal ones
When smoking it looks unfortunately not much better. According to the yearbook, tobacco consumption fell only slightly by around one percent compared to 2011. That's the equivalent of 996 cigarettes per inhabitant per year. In Germany, according to DHS calculations, every seven minutes a person dies as a result of alcohol consumption or the combination of risky drinking and smoking. That's about 74,000 deaths per year. Legal drugs would therefore have more impact than the illegal ones. With an estimated four addicted users of cannabis, cocaine and amphetamines per thousand inhabitants between the ages of 15 and 64, Germany is one of the countries with a rather low disease rate.

Germans are among the European top drinkers
However, Germans are among the top drinkers in terms of alcohol consumption compared to the OECD countries. At just 10 liters of pure alcohol since 2007, the per capita consumption in this country. As the yearbook calculates, only in Luxembourg, France, Austria and Estonia is more bumped. In addition to the 1.8 million alcohol-dependent Germans, about ten million have a problematic drinking behavior. Against this background, it is also alarming that many citizens have misconceptions about alcohol dependence. For example, a representative survey recently showed that one in three respondents has misconceptions about how addiction develops. For the adolescents, even every second person had a wrong theory.

Economic damage from alcohol
As the authors write, drinking is also a major economic loss. Although the state earns around 3.3 billion euros a year in alcohol taxes, the cost of alcohol-related illnesses is much higher at around 26 billion euros a year. Alcohol consumption promotes or causes many illnesses such as fatty liver or gastritis. It could also increase the risk of cancer and cause cardiovascular diseases such as heart attacks.

Number of smokers has been declining for years
An estimated 100,000 to 120,000 people die each year as a result of smoking, according to calculations. However, recent figures, unlike alcohol, give cautious reason for hope, as the number of smokers has been declining for several years. However, a good third of adult men and a good quarter of women still consume tobacco in this country. To counteract the consumption of legal addictive substances, the DHS recommends, among other things, higher taxes on alcohol and tobacco, a time limit on their sale and less advertising for it. (Sb)