COUNTY NEWS: Sussex town has lowest levels of problem drinkers in UK

A Sussex town has the lowest level of problem drinkers in the UK, figures have revealed.

Figures released by the NHS show that last year, only 24 of every 100,000 residents from Horsham and Mid Sussex were given a prescription for alcohol-related issues.

This is 58 times less than Salford in Greater Manchester, which tops the national list with 1,403 residents out of every 100,000 receiving prescriptions.

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Crawley was the eighth-lowest on the list, with 50 residents per 100,000.

The figures also show a large divide between the north and the south, with the ten places least affected by alcohol problems in London or the South, in contrast to nine of the top ten worst-affected areas being in the North.

Speaking to the Mirror Online, Professor Colin Drummond, an expert in addiction psychiatry at King’s College London, urged more spending on treating alcoholism.

He said: “Alcohol problems are associated with deprivation, which we know to be worse in the North than in the South.

“Until treatment becomes a priority for governments, the gap is not going to get any narrower.”