Fags and booze put shire health at stake

Legal substance abuse rates are alarming in the Cardinia Shire area. Picture: RACHEL CHAPMAN

By Aneeka Simonis

A DANGEROUSLY prolific culture of smoking in Cardinia Shire coupled with alarming rates of alcohol abuse has painted a grim picture of the community’s collective health.
The region was last year predicted to be home to more than 17,000 smokers – making up a fifth of the entire municipality.
And the nicotine addiction strike rate was greater than the state average, with just 13 per cent identified as ‘smokers’ in the VicHealth Indicators Survey 2015.
And it seems cigarettes aren’t the only legal drug residents are vulnerable to.
More than 9000 residents’ health was also identified as being at a “very high risk” of harm as a result of excessive drinking.
Close to 10 per cent of residents report drinking 11 or more alcohol drinks on a single occasion each month, putting them in the most dangerous category for short-term health harm.
Just over a quarter – or 27.4 per cent- were also identified as being at ‘high risk’ of short-term alcohol-related harms for drinking five or more alcoholic drinks on a single occasion each month.
Smoking was by far the leading cause of death in residents in Cardinia Shire when compared with drug and alcohol deaths and road fatalities, according to the most recent local government data provided by Cancer Council Victoria.
The municipality ranked in the top 20 per cent of Victorian regions most affected by smoking-related deaths, with 13 per cent of all deaths attributed to smoking in 2008.
The VicHealth report is conducted every four years to help measure factors impacting individual and community wellbeing.
The area’s legal substance abuse figures were alarming, but other health measures including mental wellbeing show encouraging results.
Cardinia Shire residents were recorded as being slightly more resilient than the average Victorian and ate roughly the same amount of fruit and vegetables.
Local residents feel slightly safer walking the streets alone at night, but felt a little less engaged with their neighbours.
They recorded marginally lower scores when asked if they trusted their neighbours, and whether they considered their neighbourhood as being tight-knit.