High Down Under: Australia Tops World League for Illicit Drug-Use - U.N.

If an Australian asks you'd if you'd like a "barbie", watch out - they might mean a barbiturate rather than an undercooked sausage. They might be better known for their sporting prowess and love of lager, but Australians take more "recreational" drugs than any other nation on earth, according to a new report by the United Nations.

According to the 2014 World Drug Report, "in Australia, expert opinion points to an increase in the consumption of cannabis, cocaine, hallucinogens, and solvents and inhalants."

Australians take more ecstasy than any other nation, rank second to America for their use of black market opioids like codeine and morphine, lie third in the table for methamphetamines and fourth for cocaine, despite the latter being relatively expensive. Around one in ten of Australia's working population - 1.9 million people - use cannabis regularly. More than three people die each die from drug overdoses - often young women using opioid pills.

Dr Alex Wodak, President of Australia's Drug Law Reform Foundation, says the increase in drug use is partly down to a growing underclass and also because many of the younger generation have more spending power than ever before.

"There is certainly greater demand for drugs and that is likely because of economic and social conditions," Dr Wodak told Australia's 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."

The results have also been published as an interactive map which shows the prevalence of each drug type around the world. Scottish people use cocaine more than anyone else on earth. England and Wales are sixth in the table for cocaine use and fifth in the world for ecstasy.