The latest report on alcohol and other drug treatment services
in Australia, released today by the Australian Institute of Health
and Welfare, shows that alcohol, and then cannabis, are still the
top drugs of concern for people seeking treatment for alcohol and
drug use.
'For younger people (aged 10-19 years) the pattern was reversed,
with cannabis nominated as the most common principal drug of
concern (47% of treatment episodes) followed by alcohol (29%),'
said Dr Paul Meyer of the Institute's Drug Surveys and Services
Unit.
The report, Alcohol and other drug treatment services in
Australia 2006-07, profiles 147,325 treatment episodes from 633
government-funded alcohol and other drug treatment agencies across
Australia.
Of these treatment episodes, 95% involved clients seeking
treatment for their own alcohol or drug use, while the other 5%
involved people seeking support or assistance in relation to
someone else's alcohol or drug use.
The main drug of concern for those seeking treatment for
themselves was alcohol (42% of treatment episodes). The number of
treatment episodes where alcohol was nominated as the principal
drug of concern increased from 56,076 in 2005-06 to 59,480 in
2006-07.
'While there was an increase in the total number of treatment
episodes for alcohol, it is unclear what the relationship is
between changes in alcohol consumption and use of treatment
services,' Dr Meyer said.
Cannabis, at 23%, was the second most common principal drug of
concern, followed by opioids at 14% (including heroin at 11%).
Alcohol was the focus of more treatment episodes for older age
groups-42% for those in the 30-39 age group, and 84% for people 60
years and older.
As seen in previous years, most treatment episodes (66%) were
provided to male clients.
'This continues the pattern seen since the start of the
collection in 2001-02,' Dr Meyer said.
Across Australia, counselling was the most common form of
treatment provided (38% of treatment episodes), followed by
withdrawal management or detox (17%) and assessment only (15%).
Friday 17 October 2008
Further information: Dr Paul Meyer, AIHW, tel.
02 6244 1186, mob. 0400 344 572
For media copies of the report: Publications
Officer, AIHW, tel. 61 2 6244 1032.
Availability: Check the AIHW Publications
Catalogue for the availability of