Recent patterns of treatment episodes by principal drug of concern

One of the most commonly asked questions is 'which drugs do people seek treatment for?'. From the table below, the greatest proportion of treatment episodes were provided for alcohol use, in each year of the collection. Treatment for cannabis use has remained fairly steady, between 21 and 25 per cent of episodes, and treatment for heroin use has declined since a peak in 2002–03. The collection guidelines for alcohol and other drug professionals provides a complete list of the definitions for all of the data items in the collection.

All drugs of concern are classified according to the Australian Standard Classification of Drugs of Concern (265KB PDF) [external link].

 

Closed treatment episodes by principal drug of concern, 2001–02 to 2007–08 (per cent)

Principal Drug of Concern	2001–02	2002–03	2003–04	2004–05	2005–06	2006–07	2007–08
Alcohol	37.0	38.0	37.5	37.2	38.7	42.3	44.5
Amphetamines	10.8	10.7	11.0	10.9	11.0	12.3	11.2
Benzodiazepines	2.4	2.1	2.1	1.9	1.8	1.6	1.7
Cannabis	21.0	22.0	22.0	23.0	24.6	22.8	21.6
Cocaine	0.7	0.3	0.2	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3
Ecstasy	0.2	0.3	0.4	0.4	0.6	0.7	0.9
Heroin	17.7	18.4	18.0	17.2	13.6	10.6	10.5
Methadone	2.3	1.8	1.9	1.8	1.7	1.6	1.6
Other opioids	2.0	1.8	1.9	2.0	2.0	2.2	2.4
All other drugs	5.2	3.9	4.6	5.3	5.7	5.5	5.4
Not stated	0.7	0.5	0.5	—	—	—	—

Source: Alcohol and other drug treatment services in Australia 2007–08

 

Notes to the table

• The table above excludes treatment episodes for clients seeking treatment for the drug use of others.
• In the reporting period 2001–02, Queensland supplied data for police diversion clients only and South Australia supplied client registration data rather than treatment episode data.
• The category of all other drugs includes balance of principal drugs of concern according to the Australian Standard Classification of Drugs of Concern (265KB PDF) [external link].

 

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