Australian Capital Territory

In 2020–21, 16 publicly funded alcohol and other drug treatment agencies in the Australian Capital Territory provided around 6,100 treatment episodes to over 3,600 clients (tables Agcy.1, SCR.21).

The Australian Capital Territory reported:

  • a 58% increase in treatment episodes from 4,080 in 2011–12 to 6,438 in 2019–20, and a 5.3% decrease in treatment episodes to 2020–21 (6,096) (Table ST ACT.2)
  • more clients are using AOD services in 2020–21 than 2013–14, after adjusting for population growth (966 clients per 100,000 population compared with 877 per 100,000, respectively)
  • client numbers increased from 2,949 in 2013–14 to 4,080 in 2019–20, then fell to 3,620 in 2020–21 (Table SCR.21).

The visualisation shows that 6,096 treatment episodes were provided to 3,620 clients in the Australian Capital Territory in 2020–21. This equates to a rate of 1,627 episodes and 966 clients per 100,000 population, which is higher than the national rate (1,079 episodes and 618 clients per 100,000 population).

 

In 2020–21, most (78%) clients in the Australian Capital Territory attended 1 agency, and received an average of 1.7 treatment episodes, the same as the national average of 1.7 treatment episodes (tables SCR.21, SCR.23).

Client demographics

In 2020–21:

  • nearly all (96%) clients in the Australian Capital Territory received treatment for their own alcohol or drug use, of which, almost 2 in 3 (64%) people were male (Figure ACT1)
  • people seeking treatment for someone else’s alcohol or drug use were mostly female (74%)
  • one in 2 (50%) of all clients were aged 20–39 years
  • over 1 in 8 (12%) of all clients identified as Indigenous Australians, which is lower than the national proportion (17%)
  • the majority (88%) of all clients were born in Australia and nearly all (98%) reported English as their preferred language (tables SC ACT.1–3, SC.4, SC ACT.21–22).

The visualisation includes a series of horizontal bar graphs showing that, in 2020–21, just under two-thirds (63%) of all clients were male, 50% were aged 20–39 and 12% were Indigenous Australians in Australian Capital Territory. Nearly all clients (98%) listed English as their preferred language and most (89%) were born in Australia.

Patterns of service use

Over the period 2016–17 to 2020–21, 13,474 clients received treatment in the Australian Capital Territory. Of these clients:

  • the majority received treatment in a single year (71%):
    • 13% (1,782) received treatment for the first time in 2020–21
    • a further 58% (7,837) received treatment in only one of the four collection periods (excluding 2020–21)
  • 17% (2,247) of clients received treatment in any 2 of the 5 years
  • 7.1% (964) of clients received treatment in any 3 of the 5 years
  • 3.3% (441) of clients received treatment in any 4 of the 5 years
  • 1.5% (205) of clients received treatment in all 5 collection years (Table SCR.28).

Drugs of concern

In 2020–21, for clients in the Australian Capital Territory receiving treatment episodes for their own alcohol or drug use:

  • alcohol was the most common principal drug of concern for clients (44% or 2,624 episodes) (Figure ACT2; Tables ST ACT.7)
  • amphetamines was also common as a principal drug, accounting for 1 in 5 (20% or 1,178) treatment episodes.

The grouped horizontal bar chart shows that, in 2020–21, alcohol was the most common principal drug of concern in treatment episodes provided to clients in the Australian Capital Territory for their own drug use (44.0%). This was followed by amphetamines (19.8%), heroin (14.2%) and cannabis (11.9%). Nicotine was the most common additional drug of concern (14.7% of episodes), followed by cannabis (14.2%) and amphetamines (9.2%).

In 2020–21, for clients receiving treatment for their own use of amphetamines:

  • methamphetamine was reported as a principal drug of concern for over 8 in 10 (86%) treatment episodes (Figure ACT3a)
  • in almost half (44%) of the treatment episodes where methamphetamine was the principal drug of concern injecting was the most common method of use, followed by smoking (41%) (Figure ACT3b).

Some jurisdictions are working with service providers to encourage more specific reporting of amphetamine use (i.e. to reduce the use of ‘amphetamines not further defined’ code where possible).    

The line graph shows that, between 2011–12 and 2012–13, amphetamines not further defined was the most common drug of concern among amphetamine-related treatment episodes for clients’ own drug use. In 2013–14, methamphetamine became the most common principal drug of concern within the amphetamines group. The proportion of methamphetamine-related episodes increased from 23.7% of amphetamine-related episodes in 2011–12 to 85.7% in 2020–21, while the proportion of episodes for amphetamines not further defined decreased from 50.1% to 7.8% over the same period.

The stacked horizontal bar chart shows the method of use for treatment episodes related to clients’ own use of methamphetamine, amphetamine, amphetamines not further defined, and other amphetamines in the Australian Capital Territory in 2020–21. Injecting was the most common method of use for methamphetamine, amphetamines not further defined and other amphetamines (ranging from 38.0% to 50.0% of episodes), while smoking was the most common method of use for amphetamine (42.7%).

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 2020–21, when the client reported additional drugs of concern:

  • nicotine was the most common additional drug (15%), followed by cannabis (14%) (Table ST ACT.7).

Over the period 2011–12 to 2020–21:

  • treatment episodes were the most common where alcohol was the principal drug of concern, fluctuating between 2011–12 (48% or 1,935) to 2020–21 (44% or 2,624 episodes), relative to the proportion of all other principal drugs of concern (Table ST ACT.7)
  • amphetamines increased from 10% in 2011–12, peaking in 2016–17 (25%) before falling to 20% in 2020–21, relative to the proportion of all other principal drugs of concern. The number of treatment episodes fluctuated from 409 in 2011–12 to 1,626 in 2016–17 down to 1,178 in 2020–21
    • within the amphetamines group, methamphetamine was reported as the principal drug of concern in 24% of episodes in 2011–12, rising to 86% in 2020–21 (Figure ACT3a). The rise in episodes may be related increases in funded treatment services and/or improvement in agency coding practices for methamphetamines
  • heroin has replaced cannabis as the third most common principal drug of concern in 2020–21 (14%), peaking at 16% in 2012–13 and falling in 2016–17 (8%). Treatment episodes for heroin as a principal drug of concern over the period in ACT was higher than the national proportion (14% compared with 4.6% nationally) (Table Drg.5)
  • the proportion of episodes for cannabis as the principal drug of concern has steadily declined from 2011–12 (17% to 12%).

Treatment

In 2020–21, for treatment episodes in the Australian Capital Territory:

  • information and education was the most common main treatment (27% of episodes) (Figure ACT4; Table ST ACT.13)
  • counselling was the second most common treatment (22%), followed by assessment only (19%)
  • where an additional treatment was provided as a supplementary to the main treatment, counselling (6.6%) was the most common additional treatment.  See technical notes for further information on calculating proportions for additional treatment type.

Over the period 2011–12 to 2020–21:

  • the most common main treatment for clients has remained information and education, ranging from 13% in 2011–12 to 32% in 2017–18 before decreasing to 27% in 2020–21 (ST ACT.13)
  • treatment agencies provided proportionally less counselling than nationally (ranging from 17% to 28% in the ACT compared with 38% to 43% nationally) and proportionally more information and education than nationally (ranging from 13% to 32% in the ACT compared with 4% to 5%) (Tables ST ACT.13 and Trt.3).

The grouped horizontal bar chart shows that, in 2020–21, the most common main treatment type provided to clients in the Australian Capital Territory for their own drug use was information and education (26.8% of episodes). This was followed by counselling (22.4%) and assessment only (19.5%). Counselling was the most common additional treatment type (6.6% of episodes), followed by ‘Other’ (5.9%).

Agencies

The Australian Capital Territory only has the one geographical classification of Major city (no areas are classified as Inner regional, Outer regional, Remote or Very remote), and the majority of treatment agencies are non-government organisations (88%) (Figure ACT5; Table Agcy.3).

Over the period 2011–12 to 2020–21, the number of publicly funded treatment agencies rose from 9 to 16 agencies (Table Agcy.1).

The horizontal bar chart shows that all treatment agencies in the Australian Capital Territory were located in Major cities (16 agencies) in 2020–21. Of the total 16 treatment agencies, most (14 agencies) were non-government agencies.