42% increase in drug-related problems in July 2024 compared to last year – Dr. Chang

There has been an almost three-fold increase in the number of drug-related crimes in Fiji from 2016 to 2020, and in July this year, there was a 42% increase from last year.

This was highlighted by Fiji National University Associate Professor of Psychiatry Dr Odille Chang during the speaker’s debate.

Dr. Chang says that in January of this year, there was a nearly three-fold increase in the number of drug-related admissions at St. Giles, compared to previous months.

She says a 2017 mental health survey in Fiji showed there was about a 6 percent prevalence rate of psychiatric morbidity and that alcohol and other drug use was about 33 percent.

Dr Chang also says that Fiji’s current drug epidemic has been in the national spotlight, but it is not new and is growing.

Dr. Chang says it’s important for communities to take ownership of this problem and be actively involved in developing solutions that are culturally appropriate and contextualized to our local settings.

She says the World Health Organization and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime have provided statistics showing that 45 percent of the world’s population engages in alcohol consumption, while 22 percent engages in tobacco use and only 3.5 percent use other drugs.

Dr. Chang says it’s important to remember that only 10 percent of those who use alcohol and other drugs will develop a substance use disorder, and that legal substances are the ones that are used at much higher rates and are the most harmful to health. people. in terms of disability-adjusted life years, which equates to the number of years of life lost due to early mortality.