A total of 15,051 people started in 2022 addiction treatments in Cataloniaof which the majority (14,137) were drugs and 914 by addictions behavioralaccording to the annual report of the Catalan Observatory of Drugs and Behavioral Addictions (OCDA) of the General Sub-Directorate of Addictions, HIV, Sexually Transmitted Infections and Viral Hepatitis (SGAVIH) of the Public Health Agency.
Alcohol is the drug with the most treatment starts and heroin remains at an all-time low
As reported this Tuesday by the Ministry of Health of the Generalitat, the alcohol It is the drug with the most initiations of treatment (6,306 cases, 45% of the total), and 73% of people who begin treatment for alcohol are men with an average age of 47 years.
The cocaine “continues to be” in 2022 the second drug that generates the most treatment starts in drug addiction care and monitoring centers (CAS), after alcohol, with 24% of the total (3,355 cases), of which 39% They are starting treatment for the first time.
Cannabis has generated 13% of treatment initiations (1,898 cases) and is the substance with the youngest age group
He cannabis has generated 13% of treatment initiations (1,898 cases) and is the substance with the youngest age groupwith 42% of people under 25 years of age, and it is the “most consumed illegal drug in Catalonia.”
For its part, the heroin “continues at the lowest level in the entire historical series” since 1987, representing 9% (1,263 cases) of the total number of treatment starts.
Video games, gambling, shopping and sex
Regarding behavioral addictions, in 2022, 914 initiations of treatment for behavioral addictions were reported in Catalonia, the majority (91%) have been treated in the 11 behavioral addiction units (UAC), and the other 9% in the CAS.
The disorder betting game has accounted for 76% of starts (690), followed by the use of video game which has motivated 7% (67 cases) and the sex addiction with 6% (54 cases).
Gambling disorder accounted for 76% of cases, followed by video game use (7%) and sex addiction (6%).
According to sex, 85% of cases correspond to men and 15% to women, and in them the behavioral addictions with the highest prevalence are gambling disorder (79%), the use of video games (8%) and sex addiction (7%), and the most prevalent among women are gambling disorder (53%) and shopping (23%).
Harm reduction service
Catalonia’s harm reduction services (SRD), which serve drug users with the aim of reducing the negative consequences on their health, have served 5,434 people in 2022.
In 2022 in Catalonia there were 39 SRDs (19 fixed centres, 8 mobile units, 11 street teams and 1 comprehensive residential first reception centre), and 15 of these services have rooms or spaces for supervised consumption.
Related news
Regarding the supervised consumption rooms in Catalonia, during 2022 they served 2,666 people and supervised a total of 135,789 consumptions.
With regard to hospital emergencies, of the total of 3,122,996 emergency episodes attended in 2022 in Catalonia, in 0.7% of cases the main diagnosis is related to drug use (21,476 emergencies), and 53% of these are due to alcohol (11,415).
Source: www.elperiodico.com
