Hungarian herbal and crystal consumption at the world’s forefront

Global Drug Survey (GDS) is the world’s biggest drug survey. More than 100 thousand young people participated in the research worldwide, and it was carried out for the second time in Hungary. The new data also show how the new synthetic drugs, herbal and crystal came up in Hungary. Now, the country is at the world’s forefront. Alcohol consumption is also a serious problem. The government promised a comprehensive alcohol strategy, but nothing was made, 444.hu said.

The results of the survey show Hungary is the second among fifty countries at the consumption of herbal, the synthetic cannabis.

GDS was founded by Dr. Adam Winstock, an English psychiatrist. The research was conducted by Zsolt Demetrovics, Professor of the Psychology Institute of ELTE and Barbara Mervo, doctoral candidate of the Doctoral School of Psychology. 102 thousand people of 50 countries filled the online questionnaire, and they had to answer questions about drug use. It’s been the biggest survey of this kind so far.

21.9% of the Hungarian respondents have tried herbal, their rate has increased by 5% in a year. Most of them know the legally-available synthetic drugs aren’t safer than illegal drugs like marijuana, but they choose herbal/crystal because it’s much cheaper and it’s easier to buy since its legal status. Actually, these new drugs are the most dangerous.

It’s clear that herbal (3.5%) and crystal (2.2%) take people to the hospital most likely. The regular users’ situation is even worse, every 8^th of them go to the hospital.

The most popular drugs are alcohol, tobacco and cannabis. 98.56%, 86.39% and 78.21% of the respondents have tried these.

It says a lot about the effectiveness of the Hungarian drug policy, that the people, when they were asked why did they stop using drugs, answered that the fear of police or of being caught was in the last place.

Last year, it was revealed alcohol consumption is a much more serious problem than illegal drugs. The government promised a National Alcohol Strategy, but nothing has happened. The survey shows that 59.3% of the Hungarian men are risky drinkers, according to the World Health Organization standards.

The proportion of low-risk alcohol drinkers decreased, but the problematic consumption increased. The ratio of high-risk male consumers are 5% higher than the world average. 89% said clearly drunken guests are also served; it is the 3^rd worst data, only Greece and Brazil overtake us.

Among the 102 thousand respondents, 4599 people were from Hungary. 30.6% of them are female, 69.2% are male. Most of them are young urban residents with a higher education degree. 63% of them have a job. There is a significant difference between the Hungarian respondents and the world average in physical exercise: there are nearly twice as many people who don’t do sports as in the global sample.

based on the article of 444.hu
translated by BA

Source: http://444.hu