Stuttgart (dpa / lsw) – In the southwest, more and more clients are coming to addiction counseling because of cannabis. Almost 20 percent of those seeking help were therefore advised in 2021, as the state office for addiction issues announced on Tuesday. Ten years ago, the proportion was still around twelve percent.
According to the current addiction help statistics, those affected are noticeably young, on average 25 years. More than one in three is not even 14 years old when they try cannabis for the first time. “Anyone who gets in gets in early,” said Wolfgang Indlekofer. The head of the Freiolsheim specialist clinic in the Rastatt district calls for more prevention. “We have to reach people much earlier, at the age of twelve, 13, 14.”
However, alcohol is still the main problem – even if, according to statistics, the trend has been declining for years. Almost 44 percent of clients come to the advice centers for this reason. It often does not stop with alcohol alone. Many do not just leave it at one drug, emphasized Indlekofer. There are fewer and fewer patients in his clinic who “only drank, only smoked pot, only coke”. According to the State Office for Addiction Issues, more than 50,000 people sought help last year.
