Australia

Austria

Azerbaijan

Belgium

Canada

Denmark

El Salvador

Estonia

Finland

Iceland

Iran

Ireland

Kazakhstan

Kuwait

Kyrgystan

New Zealand

Russia

Spain

Sweden

Mexico

UK

Macao

Japan

Palau

Singapore USA

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$33k

$67k

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Drug use (opiates, amphetamines, ecstasy, cocaine, cannabis). For each drug type an index of 1 represents the global average prevalence. Each country's �ve indexes are

averaged to arrive at this �gure.

Low wealth, high drug use

High wealth, high drug use

High wealth, low drug use

x average prevalence

(2 x average wealth)

Key:

100 drug deaths / million people

40 drug deaths / million people

10 drug deaths / million people

Where data is not available, bubbles are not �lled.

(4 x average wealth)

Cannabis

Users: 14.6%

Amphetamines

Users: 2.1% 3 x all-country

average. 5 x all-country

average. 3 x all-country

average.

Cocaine

Users: 0.6% 20% lower than all-

country average.

Ecstasy

Users: 2.6%

Opiates

Users: 0.1% 70% lower than all-

country average.

New Zealand's Rollin' HardThe latest figures showing New Zealand's drug habit.

2ndhighest*

2ndhighest

3rdhighest

Low usage

Low usage

How prevalent is drug use in New Zealand?

How do we compare with other countries like us?

Estimating prevalence of any illegal behaviour is difficult. In compiling their report, the UNODC have taken the midpoint of the most recent estimates in each country. Data isn't available for many countries. These figures are the best we have, but in interpreting them, we should bear in mind their limitations. Note that the UNODC's report includes geographical units which are not countries, e.g. unincorporated territories of the United States, and the component states of the United Kingdom. I have limited this analysis to actual countries for simplicity and clarity.

The calculationThe first step in comparing New Zealand with other countries is to consolidate prevalence figures for the five drug categories into a single number. To do this, each country is indexed against the all-country average for each drug. Prevalence of cannabis in New Zealand is 14.6%, while the all-country average is 4.9%, giving New Zealand a cannabis prevalance index of 3.0. That is, prevalence is three times higher than the average of all countries for which we have data. The five indexes for each country are averaged, giving us an overall drug use index which summarises how much more or less prevalent drug use is in that country.However, we also want to understand what sort of countries we're comparing New Zealand against. In the chart below, the horizontal axis

shows our overall drug use index, while the vertical axis distributes countries by wealth (GDP per capita).New Zealand is one of the wealthy nations which features on the right side of the chart - the high drug use side. However, many wealthy nations have avoided this pitfall and can be found in the top left quadrant of the chart. Even amongst our peers, we have very prevalent drug use.The impact: drug-related deathsIn 2009 (the most recent statistic available), 26 New Zealanders died due to drug poisoning (Ministry of

Health mortality causes categories X41, X42, X61, X62, Y11 and Y12). The UNODC defines drug-related death more widely: their figures include causes such as death by driving under the

influence of drugs. No such figure is available for New Zealand. However, with 26 deaths caused directlyly by drugs, we can only presume that our country would register on the global scale.Do you agree with this analysis? Send your thoughts to @TuesdaySue.

The United Nations Office on Drugs & Crime (UNODC) published its 2012 World Drug Report in July. The Report shows that New Zealanders have high usage of illegal drugs, especially, but not limited to, cannabis, and that drug use is more prevalent here than in most other countries. In fact, New Zealanders are more likely to use cannabis, ecstasy and amphetamines than almost any other nationality in the world.

© TuesdaySue; September 2012.

* Jointly with Italy.

A small number of countries fall outside the scope of this chart and are therefore not represented here.