Rehab attendance up 10-fold after quake

A bridge buckled by the Canterbury earthquake. Photo / Sarah Ivey

A fallout from last September's destructive Canterbury earthquake has been a 10-fold increase in people struggling with alcohol, drugs and gambling, a rehab unit says.

Last July only 73 people attended the Active Recovery Centre (ARC) meetings for alcohol, drug and gambling addicts, while December figures showed the attendance jump to 754, The Press reported today.

ARC chairman Everett Sullivan said the organisation now had meetings twice daily, one at lunchtime and another in the evening.

"After the earthquake, I think, it started taking off. People were stressed out. People had a lot of anxiety."

The surge in numbers meant the organisation was now desperate for further funding, he said.

The Alcohol Drug Association of New Zealand (Adanz) chief executive Paul Rout said he suspected the people who were most affected were those already in recovery.

"People who have problems with alcohol and drugs, particularly those you would describe as alcoholics or drug addicts, have used alcohol and drugs as a means of coping with stress.

"It makes sense when people go through traumatic or stressful things that it's tempting to use those old methods of coping."

- NZPA