Alcohol and other drug treatment services in Australia annual report 2023–24

In 2023–24,17 publicly funded alcohol and other drug (AOD) treatment agencies in the Australian Capital Territory provided 5,994 treatment episodes to 3,599 clients (tables Agcy.1, SCR.21).

The Australian Capital Territory reported:

• Client numbers increased from 2,949 in 2013–14 to 4,109 in 2017–18, then fell to 3,599 in 2023–24.
• Fewer clients are receiving AOD services in 2023–24 than 2013–14, after adjusting for population growth (866 clients per 100,000 people compared with 877, respectively) (Table SCR.21).
• There was a 15% increase in treatment episodes between 2014–15 and 2023–24, from 5,222 to 5,994 (Table ST ACT.2).

In 2023–24, most (80%) clients in the Australian Capital Territory attended 1 agency, and received an average of 1.7 treatment episodes, which is lower than the national average of 1.8 treatment episodes (tables SCR.21, SCR.23).

Client demographics

In 2023–24:

• Nearly all (96%) clients in the Australian Capital Territory received treatment for their own alcohol or drug use, of which 2 in 3 (64%) people were male (Figure ACT 1).
• People who received treatment for someone else’s alcohol or drug use were mostly female (70%).
• Half (50%) of all clients were aged 30–49 years.
• 1 in 7 (14%) of all clients were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (First Nations) people, which is lower than the national proportion (18%).
• The majority (85%) of all clients were born in Australia and nearly all (98%) reported English as their preferred language (tables SCR ACT.1–4, SCR ACT.9–10, SC.5).

New and returning clients

In 2023–24:

• 2 in 5 (42%, 1,492) of all clients in Australian Capital Territory were a new client, who had not previously received treatment since 2013–14.
• 3 in 5 (58%, 2,093) of all clients in Australian Capital Territory were returning clients, who have previously received AOD treatment from a service at some point since 2013–14 (see Key terminology and glossary) (Table SCR 28).

Drugs of concern

In 2023–24, among clients in the Australian Capital Territory receiving treatment episodes for their own alcohol or drug use (5,825):

• Alcohol was the most common principal drug of concern (49%, 2,864 episodes) (Figure ACT 2, Table ST ACT.7).
• Amphetamines accounted for 1 in 5 (20%, 1,184) treatment episodes.

In 2023–24, for clients who received treatment for their own use of amphetamines (1,184 episodes):

• Methamphetamine was reported as a principal drug of concern for 9 in 10 (92%) treatment episodes (Table ST ACT.6).
• 2 in 5 (42%) of the treatment episodes where methamphetamine was the principal drug of concern, injecting was the most common method of use, followed by smoking (39%) (Figure ACT 3, Table ST ACT.10).

Clients can nominate up to 5 additional drugs of concern; these drugs are not necessarily the subject of any treatment within the episode (see technical notes).

In 2023–24, where additional drugs of concern were reported, nicotine was the most common additional drug (17% of episodes), followed by cannabis (15%) (Table ST ACT.7).

Over the period 2014–15 to 2023–24:

• Alcohol was the most common principal drug of concern relative to all other drugs accounting for almost half (47%) of episodes in 2014–15, falling to 43% in 2021–22, before increasing to 49% in 2023–24 (Table ST ACT.7).
• The proportion of episodes with amphetamines as the principal drug of concern increased from 18% (907) in 2014–15 to a peak in 2016–17 of 25% (1,572), before falling to 20% (1,184) in 2023–24.
  • Within the amphetamines group, methamphetamine was reported as the principal drug of concern in 51% of episodes in 2014–15, rising to 92% in 2023–24 (Figure ACT 3).
  • The rise in episodes is likely related to both increases in funded treatment services and improvement in agency coding practices for methamphetamine.
• The proportion of episodes with heroin as a principal drug of concern rose from 8.8% in 2014-15 to 14% in 2020–21, before falling back to 9.5% in 2023–24 (higher than the national proportion of 4.3%) (Table Drg.5).
• The proportion of episodes for cannabis as the principal drug of concern has steadily declined from 2014–15 (17% to 10% in 2023–24).

Treatment

In 2023–24, for treatment episodes in the Australian Capital Territory (5,994):

• Information and education was the most common main treatment type (30% of episodes) (Figure ACT 4, Table ST ACT.13).
• Counselling was the second most common treatment (27%), followed by assessment only (13%).
• Where an additional treatment was provided as a supplementary to the main treatment, counselling (2.8%) was the most common additional treatment, followed by pharmacotherapy (1.6%). See technical notes for further information on calculating proportions for additional treatment type.

Over the period 2014–15 to 2023–24:

• Information and education was the most common main treatment type between 2015–16 (24% of episodes) and 2020–21 (27%), and again from 2022–23 (25%) to 2023–24 (30%).
• The proportion of episodes with counselling as main treatment ranged from 24% in 2014–15 to 28% in 2018–19, before decreasing to 23% in 2022–23, then increasing to 27% in 2023–24.
• Compared to national proportions, fewer treatment episodes provided in the ACT had counselling as main treatment over the 10 years to 2023–24 (ranging from 21% to 28% in the ACT, compared with 33% to 40% nationally).
• Conversely, more treatment episodes in the ACT had information and education as main treatment (ranging from 16% to 32% in the ACT compared with 2.4% to 10% nationally) (tables ST ACT.13, Trt.3).

Agencies

The Australian Capital Territory only has the one geographical classification of Major city, and the majority of treatment agencies are non-government organisations (88%) (Figure ACT 5, Table Agcy.3).

Over the period 2014–15 to 2023–24, the number of publicly funded treatment agencies rose from 15 to 17 agencies (Table Agcy.1).