While the proportion of people smoking every day has declined from nearly 40 % in 1980 to a little over 20% now, and is now less than the OECD average, other forms of addiction are clearly on the increase:

• 58.5% of men in the UK admit to drinking the equivalent of a whole bottle of wine or more in one session, at least once a month.  This compares to 42% in Germany, 27.9% in France, 23% in Italy and 12.9% in Spain.  For women, the contrast is even greater: 34.2% in the UK, 12.7% in Germany, 9.7% in France and 8% in Spain.  (Source: World Health Organisation, quoted in The Times, March 18 2009).
• Ian Gilmore, chairman of the alcohol group at the Royal College of Physicians, said “When I first became a liver specialist 20 years ago, I would see patients with cirrhosis caused by alcohol who were aged in their fifties and sixties.  Now we see patients in their twenties and thirties”.  (Quoted in The Times, 18 December 2004)  Alison Rogers, chief executive of the British Liver Trust says “95% of all liver disease is entirely preventable, yet 300 people a week are dying”.  (Quoted in The Times, 1 April 2010).
• A recent OECD report has found that the UK is the worst of all 30 member countries for drunkenness amongst 13 and 15 year olds.  (OECD 2009, Doing Better for Children).
• Young drinkers aged 11-15 in England doubled their average weekly consumption between 1990 and 2004, from 5.3 units of alcohol to 10.4. Girls aged 14 increased their weekly consumption from 3.8 units in 1992, to 9.7 units in 2004.
• The number of alcohol-related A&E admissions has virtually doubled in less than a decade, rising from 75,863 in 1997-98, to 148,477 in 2005-06.  (Department of Health, reported in The Times, 23 December 2006). The annual number of hospital admissions involving people with an alcohol related disorder - from drunken injuries to liver disease - stands at 1,173,386 in 2010/11, more than double the 510,780 there were in 2002/03, and having risen every year in between (The Times, 10 December 2011)  A Lancet article, written by Sir Ian Gilmore (former president of the Royal College of physicians) and others estimates that deaths resulting from alcohol abuse over the next two decades are likely, on present trends, be be between 160,000 and 250,000 - about 10,000 per annum (The Times, 21 February, 2011).
• The proportion of 16 to 24 year olds who admit to binge drinking has risen from 17% to 27% in the past ten years (survey by YouGov and Demos, reported in the Daily Telegraph, 22 April 2011).
• A 2007 report by the National Social Marketing Centre estimates the total annual cost of alcohol misuse - including resulting crime, damage to families, criminal justice and the cost to employers - at £20 billion.
• Nearly one million adults admitted using cocaine in the last year (British Crime Survey).  Among 16-25 year olds, the number has risen five-fold since 1996, to stand at an estimated 438,000.
• There are an estimated 327,466 ‘problematic drug users’ in England and Wales (defined as seriously addicted to cocaine or opiates such as heroin).  (Young report, p. 108).  This problem hardly existed in the 1950s.
• Amongst 16-24 year olds, the UK has the highest proportion of problematic drug users in the 18 European countries for which statistics are available.  (Ibid)
• Amongst 15-34 year olds, cocaine use in the previous year has risen in the UK from 0.9% in 1994 to 6.2% in 2009.  This 6.2% figure compares with 5.5% in Spain, 2.9% in Italy, 1.6% in Germany and 1.2% in France.  The EU average is 2.3%, while the corresponding figure from Australia is 3.4%, Canada 4% and the USA 4.5%.  In these figures from the Annual Report 2010 European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (published 11 November 2010), the UK total is higher than for any other country, of 28 surveyed.
• Research on drug habits has found that the numbers sniffing glue has shot up from 28,000 in 1998 to 168,000 in 2005.  The number aged 11 to 15 using stimulants, such as amyl nitrate, has doubled to 144,000 over the same period.  (Institute of Public Research, quoted in The Times, 4 November 2006).
• 93% of women involved in street prostitution use illegal drugs (Source: Young report, p 108).
• Marie Stopes International, Britain’s biggest private abortion clinic, said that excessive drinking and party-going over Christmas led to a record number of terminations.  “It does seem that we may be seeing the consequences of the festive season, when partying excess and alcohol consumption combine to increase libido and lower inhibition, with inevitable consequences of unprotected sex resulting in unplanned pregnancies”, said Liz Davies, director of UK operations for the clinic.  (The Times, 8 February 2007)
• A 2007 survey found that there were about 284,000 problem gamblers in Britain, about the same as in a survey in 1999.  (Gambling Commission – industry statistics, 2008/09)