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).
When the client reported additional drugs of concern:
- cannabis was the most common additional drug (11% of episodes), followed by alcohol (9.5%) and nicotine (9.0%) (Table ST QLD.7).
Over the period 2011–12 to 2020–21:
- alcohol was the most common principal drug of concern from 2011–12 to 2013–14, and in 2018–19 alcohol replaced cannabis as the most common principal drug of concern (Table ST QLD.7)
- the proportion of episodes for alcohol as a principal drug of concern, fell from 43% in 2011–12 to 36% in 2020–21, relative to all other principal drugs of concern. However, the actual number of treatment episodes increased over this period from 10,519 episodes to 17,742
- cannabis was the second most common principal drugs of concern, with treatment episodes increasing from 29% in 2011–12, peaking at 39% in 2015–16 and falling to 29% in 2020–21. From 2011–12 treatment episodes increased from 7,243 to 14,237 over this period
- the proportion of episodes for amphetamines as a principal drug of concern doubled since 2011–12 (11% to 23%), with the number of treatment episodes increasing from 2,674 to 11,525 over this period
- within the amphetamines group, methamphetamine was reported as the principal drug of concern in 16% of episodes in 2011–12, rising to 65% in 2015–16, then 87% in 2020–21 (Figure QLD3a). The rise in episodes where methamphetamines were the principal drug of concern may be related to increases in funded treatment services and improvements in agency coding practices for methamphetamines
- the proportion of treatment episodes in Queensland where cannabis was the principal drug of concern was higher than the national proportion in 2020–21 (29% compared with 19%) (Table Drg.1). This trend has been consistent for the 10-year period.
In 2020–21, Queensland Health transitioned to an integrated public AOD and mental health system for reporting. Due to the use of this integrated system, there was an improvement in the capability to report assessment only as a main treatment type. This resulted in increases in treatment episodes with assessment only as a main treatment type and is considered as a more accurate representation of the treatment being provided by the sector.
Prior to 2020–21, treatment episodes provided to people diverted into AOD services by police and court diversion programs were recorded as information and education. This resulted in a high proportion of information and education treatment episodes in Queensland. From 2020–21, the police and court diversion programs are now reported as counselling which is a more accurate representation of the treatment being provided. See Data Quality Statement for further information.
In 2020–21, for treatment episodes in Queensland:
- counselling was the most common main treatment (46% of episodes), followed by assessment only (26%) (Figure QLD4)
- the proportion of episodes for information and education as a main treatment dropped 15 percentage points from 2019–20 (21%) to 6% in 2020–21, due to a review of coding practices and are now coded as counselling (Table ST QLD.13)
- where an additional treatment was provided as supplementary to the main treatment, information and education (6%) was also the most common type of additional treatment, followed by counselling (4%). See technical notes for further information on calculating proportions for additional treatment type.
Over the period 2011–12 to 2020–21:
- the proportion of all treatment episodes where counselling was the main treatment type increased from 2011–12 (35%) to 46% in 2020–21. Counselling replaced information and education as the most common treatment since 2016–17
- the proportion of withdrawal management as a main treatment type decreased in 2020–21, dropping from 11% in 2011–12 down to 5%.