AUSTRALIA’S dangerous love affair with party drugs has landed us on top of the list of the world’s biggest recreational drug users.

Australia has the highest proportion of ecstasy users in the world, according to the United Nations 2014 World Drug Report.

We ranked second for use of opioids (pain medications such as codeine or morphine), third for methamphetamines, fourth for cocaine and seventh for cannabis.

The report states the number of Australian drug users continues to rise.

“In Australia, expert opinion points to an increase in the consumption of cannabis, cocaine, hallucinogens, and solvents and inhalants,” the report reads.

But although the number of ecstasy users actually decreased by 0.5 per cent to 3 per cent between 2007 and 2010, the amount of methamphetamines seized in Australia between 2011 and 2012 rose 400 per cent from 426kg to 2268kg.

media_camera Tablets from a $1.6 million ecstasy haul at Curtin House Police Station in Western Australia. Photo: Kerris Berrington.

More than 10 per cent of people aged between 16 and 65 use cannabis, and 2.1 per cent use cocaine.

The illicit use of drugs is more common among men than women, except for opioids.

Australian Drug Law Reform Foundation president Dr Alex Wodak blamed a cashed-up new generation of Aussies and a growing socio-economic underclass for the boom in illicit drug use.

“There is certainly greater demand for drugs and that is likely because of economic and social conditions,” Dr Wodak told The Daily Telegraph.

“People on one hand have more money to spend and on the other there are more people who are at risk — and those that are at risk are getting worse because of high unemployment, poor job prospects, lack of optimism,’’ Dr Wodak said.

Read the full report here.

If you are seeking help about a drug problem call the Drug Info Line on 1300 85 85 84

If you are in need of immediate help, call Lifeline on 13 11 14

Originally published as Aussies’ great big drug problem