Statistics on Illicit Drug Use in South Australia
Illicit drug use in the general population
Illicit drug use among South Australian secondary school students
Illicit drug use requiring treatment services
Overdose
Blood-borne virus infection
Illicit drug use in the general population
Recent use (last 12 months)
- In 2010, 14.9% of the South Australian population aged 14 years and over had used an illicit drug in the last 12 months. This is similar to that reported in 2007 (14.7%).
- In every survey year, the percentage that had used an illicit drug in the last 12 months was slightly higher in South Australia compared with Australia.
- In Australia, there was a significant increase between 2007 and 2010 in the percentage that had used an illicit drug in the last 12 months, from 13.4% to 14.7%.
Data sourced from: 2010 National Drug Strategy Household Survey, Full Report, Australian Institute of Health & Welfare, July 2011
Table 1 shows that in 2010, almost 14.9% of the South Australian population aged 14 years and over had recently used an illicit drug, a slight increase from 14.7% in 2007. In Australia, recent use of illicit drugs increased significantly from 13.4% in 2007 to 14.7% in 2010. In addition, lifetime use of illicit drugs also increased significantly from 38.1% in 2007 to 39.8% in 2010.
- The illicit drug most commonly used in the last 12 months in South Australia was cannabis, with 11.3% of the population aged 14 years and over reporting they had used in the last 12 months, compared with 10.2% in 2007.
- Ecstasy was the second most commonly used illicit drug in the last 12 months (2.9% in 2007 and 3.3% in 2010), followed by painkillers/analgesics (2.8% in 2007 and 3.4% in 2010) and meth/amphetamine (2.6% in 2007 and 2.5% in 2010).
- In 2010, males had higher percentages of recent illicit drug use compared with females (16.4% compared with 13.5% in South Australia and 17% vs. 12.3% in Australia).
- The age groups most commonly reporting recent illicit drug use in the last 12 months were those aged 18-19 years and 20-29 years.
- The prevalence of recent illicit drug use was similar in South Australia compared with nationally, although people aged 14-19 years in South Australia had a significantly higher percentage of recent illicit drug use than the national average for that age group (22.5% vs. 18.2%).
Table 1: Summary of recent illicit drug use*: proportion of the population aged 14 years and over,
South Australia
and Australia,
2010 by substance used.
National data sourced from:
2010 NDSHS, Full Report, Australian Institute of Health & Welfare, July 2011
South Australian data sourced from:
Analysis of the South Australian dataset from the 2010 NDSHS (unpublished)
Illicit drug use# among South Australian secondary school students
# 'Illicit drugs' include cannabis, amphetamines, ecstasy, cocaine, heroin(and other opiates) and hallucinogens
Lifetime (ever tried) and recent use (last week)
Figure 2 shows the percentage of secondary school students who had ever tried illicit drugs, or had used them in the last week, from 1996 to 2011.
- The percentage of students who had ever used illicit drugs, and who had recently used illicit drugs has decreased significantly since 1996, although it has stabilised between 2008 and 2011.
- The decrease in the percentage of students who had ever used illicit drugs was driven primarily by students aged 15 years and older. In 1996, 62.1% of 17-year-olds had used an illicit drug during their lifetime. By 2011, this had decreased to 28.9%.
- The decrease in recent illicit drug use since 1996 was driven primarily by students aged 15 and 16. The percentage of 15 and 16 year olds who had recently used illicit drugs decreased from 23.2% in 1996 to 5.4% in 2011.
Cannabis
Figure 3 shows the percentage of secondary school students who had ever tried cannabis, or had used it in the last week, from 1996 to 2011.
- In 2011, 13.6% of students reported having ever tried cannabis and 3.1% reported using cannabis in the previous week, making cannabis the most commonly used of the illicit drugs.
- Both lifetime and recent cannabis use amongst students has remained stable since 2008, although there has been a significant decrease since 1996.
Other substances
Figures 4 and 5 show the percentage of student who reported ever using and recent using (in the last week) a range of other substances between 1996 and 2011.
- With the exception of sedatives and inhalants, very small percentages of students reported lifetime use of other substances, and use has generally remained stable or decreased since 1996 (Figure 4)
- Recent use of all substance types has been low in all survey years, and was less than 4% for each substance type in 2011 (Figure 5).
Figure 4: Percentage of students who had ever tried illicit substances, South Australia, 1996- 2011.
Illicit drug use requiring treatment services
In South Australia, amphetamines were the second* most common principal drug of concern for which treatment was sought, accounting for 11% of closed treatment episodes in 2009-2010. When all drugs of concern are considered (that is, the principle drug of concern and all other drugs of concern nominated by the client), 20% of episodes included amphetamines.
Of the 991 episodes where amphetamines were nominated as the principal drug of concern in 2009-10: the client profiles were as follows:
- Over two-thirds (71%) of episodes were for male clients.
- The median age of persons receiving treatment was 33 (males 34; females 31).
- Four per cent of episodes involved clients who identified as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander.
- Referrals from police diversion programs were the most common source of referral (38% of episodes), followed by self-referral (24%).
Cannabis was the third* most common principal drug of concern for which treatment was sought in South Australia in 2009-10, accounting for 10% closed treatment episodes in 2009-10 (only one percentage point above heroin). This proportion is less than half that observed among the national population (23%). When all drugs of concern are considered (that is, the principal drug of concern and all other drugs of concern nominated by the client), 30% of episodes included cannabis.
Of the 883 episodes where cannabis was nominated as the principal drug of concern in 2009-10 the client profiles were as follows:
- Over two-thirds (70%) of episodes were for male clients.
- The median age of clients receiving treatment was 26 (males 26; females 25).
- Over one in ten (12%) of episodes involved clients who identified as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander.
- Self-referral was the most common source of referral (30% of episodes), followed by referrals from 'other' sources (11%) police diversion (10%) and other community/health care services (9%).
National data sourced from:
South Australian data sourced from:
* alcohol was the most common principal drug of concern
Overdose
The use of heroin and other opioids is associated with risk of accidental overdose. Figure 6 shows the South Australian and national trends where opioids were determined to be the underlying cause of accidental death (that is, they were the primary factor responsible for the person's death) from 2001 to 2008 inclusive.
- In 2008, 337 accidental deaths due to opioids were recorded among 15-54 year olds Australia-wide, and 34 in South Australia
- The number of accidental deaths due to opioids decreased markedly between 1999 and 2001, coinciding with a decrease in heroin availability across Australia, and numbers have remained relatively low since then.
- However, after a drop in 2006 to 17 accidental opioid deaths, there has been an increase in two consecutive years in South Australia, so that double the number of deaths were recorded in 2007 (30 deaths) and 2008 (34 deaths). A similar pattern was observed in Australia.
*The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) changed the way they collate deaths data in 2006, making comparisons over time difficult. Data should be interpreted in conjunction with the ABS Technical Note 2: Coroner Certified Deaths, 3303.0 2006.
National data sourced from:
Australian Drug Trends 2011: findings from the Illicit Drug Reporting System (IDRS)
South Australian data sourced from:
South Australian Drug Trends 2011: findings from the Illicit Drug Reporting System (IDRS)
Blood-borne virus infection
The risk of acquiring blood-borne viruses such as hepatitis C (HCV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is greater among injecting drug users. Blood-borne viruses can be transmitted by the sharing of needles, syringes and other injecting equipment.
State and Territory health departments report viral hepatitis notifications to the Communicable Diseases Australia - National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System (CDA-NNDSS). The CDA-NNDSS differentiates between incident infections (newly acquired) and unspecified infections (those where the timing of disease acquisition is unknown). Readers should note that the data reported here do not identify whether cases were injecting drug users or not.
Figure 7 shows that the number of and unspecified cases of HCV in South Australia has been declining since 1996. In Australia, the number has been declining since 1999. For newly acquired cases there was some fluctuation in South Australia, with a slight increase in 1998, followed by an overall decreasing trend. In Australia, numbers increased between 1995 and 2001, decreasing in 2002 and remaining fairly stable thereafter.
The annual Australian Needle and Syringe Program (NSP) Survey reports on the prevalence of HCV and HIV among a sample of injecting drug users.
Figure 8 shows that the prevalence of HCV among the South Australian sample declined from 2005 to 2008, followed by an increase in the last two years. However, it is important to note that sample sizes are small, and Australian data are more reliable. In Australia, although the overall percentage of respondents who tested positive to HCV was higher than in South Australia, there was a decrease between 2008 and 2009 that was largely maintained in 2010; the reverse of what was seen in South Australia.
Figure 9 shows that there was a low prevalence of HIV among the South Australian sample from 2002-2010, with 1% or less of surveyed injecting drug users testing positive for HIV in each year. Note again that sample sizes are small, as is the absolute number who tested positive (ranging from 0 to four respondents). Similarly, the prevalence of HIV was low among the Australian sample; again, the absolute numbers who tested positive was small (ranging from 15 to 33 respondents).
Data sourced from:
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