Family disintegration is most frequently caused by illegal drug abuse, followed by alcoholism and gambling, the head of the department for alcoholism and other additions at Zagreb's Sisters of Mercy hospital, Zoran Zoricic, has told Hina.
"What's specific to the Croatian market and society is that problems related to gambling have been markedly rising over the past ten years or so, which is related to the expansion of the market of games of chance, whereas the area of drinking and alcohol-related problems is stable. Regarding narcotics, we can say that the problem is increasingly smaller," Zoricic said.
He said the number of young alcohol addicts was not problematic because they were not addicts but had problems with alcohol abuse and risky drinking. He added, however, that any drinking at an early age was risky because alcohol tolerance was extremely small.
The most prevalent alcoholic beverage in Croatia is beer, which is drunk the most in continental Croatia. Beer production and consumption are rising, wine production is stagnating and spirits production is falling. Thirty years ago the situation was quite different because hard liquor was dominant.
Drinks are of a somewhat better quality today and real expansion took place in the beer industry and its marketing, which Zoricic says is aimed at young people, so it is no wonder that most of them have a beer "problem".
In Croatia, there are no regional differences when it comes to alcoholism, because people drink in every part of the country, even though alcoholism is more prevalent in cities.
Zoricic said the system was much less resolute in combating alcoholism than narcotic abuse, and that the solution to alcoholism as a widespread phenomenon lay in raising taxes on alcohol to make it a very expensive product. This would solve the issue of youth alcoholism, reduce the traffic death toll and cirrhosis of the liver.
One in five alcoholics in Croatia is a woman. Men drink in public and women at home, becoming alcoholics in their 40s. Although two in three alcoholics who accept the system and treatment successfully conquer their addiction, Zoricic said only one in three managed to stay sober for five years or more.
Until now, it was assumed that six percent of Croatians (250,000) were addicted to alcohol, but the World Health Organisation's latest figures on Europe and the United States show that 3-4% of the population, between 150,000 and 200,000 people, are addicted to booze.