People may receive alcohol and other drug (AOD) treatment for use of one or more substances. Most people have one drug that is of greater concern for them, and their treatment will focus on this drug; this is referred to as the principal drug of concern (PDOC). Clients who use more than one drug can also report additional drugs of concern, though these may not be the subject of any treatment within the episode. Drug of concern information is not collected for people who received treatment for someone else’s drug use.
Principal drug of concern
For people who received treatment for their own alcohol or drug use in 2024–25:
- 2 in 5 (41%, 87,632) treatment episodes were for alcohol, followed by methamphetamine (24%, 50,863), cannabis (14%, 30,287) and heroin (4.3%, 9,204) (Figure 1).
- The main principal drugs of concern were the same for both males and females:
- alcohol (40% of male clients; 41% of female clients)
- methamphetamine (23% of male clients; 22% of female clients)
- cannabis (14% of male clients and 17% of female clients).
The most common principal drugs of concern that clients were treated for in 2024–25 were different across age groups:
- Younger people were more likely to get treatment for cannabis, with over half (53%) of episodes for those aged 10–19 and a quarter of episodes (24%) for those aged 20–29 related to cannabis use.
- People aged 30–39 (32%) were more likely to receive treatment for methamphetamine.
- Older people were more likely to get treatment for alcohol, with 45% of treatment episodes for those aged 40–49, 60% for those aged 50–59, and 75% for those aged 60 and over.
