Alcohol and other drug treatment services in Australia annual report 2024–25

 In 2024–25, 196 publicly funded alcohol and other drug (AOD) treatment agencies in Queensland provided 51,868 treatments to 32,112 clients (tables Agcy.1, SCR.21).

Queensland reported:

• There was a 6.4% decrease in clients between 2023–24 and 2024–25 from 34,302 to 32,112.
• Client numbers dropped from 28,960 in 2013–14 to 32,112 in 2024–25.
• Fewer clients are receiving AOD services in 2024–25 than 2013–14, after adjusting for population growth (645 clients per 100,000 people compared with 714, respectively) (Table SCR.21). This is due to:
  • The number of clients receiving two or more treatment episodes is rising while clients receiving 1 treatment episode is dropping (Table SCR.22).
• There was a similar number of treatment episodes in 2024–25 compared with the previous year (51,868 and 51,979, respectively), and a 44% increase since 2013–14 (36,093) (Table SCR.21).

In 2024–25, most (82%) clients in Queensland attended 1 agency, and received an average of 1.6 treatment episodes, which is lower than the national average of 1.9 treatment episodes (tables SCR.21, SCR.23).

Client demographics

In 2024–25:

• Nearly all (98%) clients received treatment for their own alcohol or drug use, of which 3 in 5 (63%) people were male (Figure QLD 1).
• Clients who received treatment for someone else’s alcohol or drug use were more likely to be female (67%).
• Half (50%) of all clients were aged 30–49 years, and 7.7% were aged 10–19 years which was similar to the national proportion for clients aged 10–19 years (7.7%).
• 1 in 5 (21%) of all clients were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (First Nations) people, which is higher than the national proportion (19%).
• The majority (89%) of all clients were born in Australia and nearly all (99%) reported English as their preferred language (tables SCR QLD.1–4, SCR QLD.9–10, SC.5, SC.3).

New and returning clients

In 2024–25:

• 2 in 5 (39%, 12,587) of all clients were a new client, who had not previously received treatment since 2013–14.
• 3 in 5 (61%, 19,317) of all clients were returning clients, who have previously received AOD treatment from a service at some point since 2013–14  (Table SCR 28).                                                                        

Drugs of concern

In 2024–25 in Queensland:

• Among clients receiving treatment episodes for their own alcohol or drug use (51,237):
  • Alcohol was the most common principal drug of concern (40%, 20,652 episodes) (Figure QLD 2, Table ST QLD.6).
  • Methamphetamine was the second most common principal drug of concern in Queensland (25%, 12,790), followed by cannabis (13%, 6,471).
  • In Queensland, the level of cannabis reported as the principal drug of concern is a result of the police and illicit drug court diversion programs operating in the state (Table ST QLD.12).
• Where additional drugs of concern were reported, cannabis was the most common additional drug (7.9% of episodes), followed by nicotine (5.0%) (Figure QLD 2, Table ST QLD.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 2024–25, for clients who received treatment for their own use of methamphetamine (12,790 episodes), the most common method of use was injecting (44%), followed by smoking (40%) (Figure QLD 3, Table ST QLD.10). 

Between 2015–16 and 2024–25:

• Alcohol was the most common principal drug of concern from 2018–19 onwards, overtaking cannabis.
  • Alcohol as a principal drug of concern increased from 27% of all treatment episodes in 2015–16 to 40% in 2024–25. The number of treatment episodes over this period almost doubled from 11,734 to 20,652 (Table ST QLD.7).
• Cannabis was the second most common principal drug of concern, with episodes decreasing from 39% of all treatment episodes in 2014–15 to 13% in 2024–25. Over this period the number of treatment episodes decreased from 16,929 to 6,471.
• The number of episodes for methamphetamine has been rising over this period and appears to be still rising from 2019–20 when improvements in the reliability of methamphetamine reporting is evident, increasing from 10,448 to 12,790 over this period.
  • Methamphetamine as a principal drug of concern increased from 23% of all treatment episodes in 2019–20 to 25% in 2024–25.
• The proportion of treatment episodes in Queensland where cannabis was the principal drug of concern was lower than the national proportion in 2024–25 (13% compared with 14%) (Table Drg.1). This has broken the 10-year trend where it has been consistently higher than the national proportion.

Treatment

In 2024–25, for treatment episodes in Queensland (51,868):

• Assessment only was the most common main treatment (41%), followed by counselling (35%) (Figure QLD 4).
• The proportion of episodes for information and education as a main treatment dropped 19 percentage points from 2019–20 (21%) to 2024–25 (2.2%). This was due to a review of coding practices which resulted a large proportion of episodes previously coded as information and education being coded as counselling (Table ST QLD.13).
• Where an additional treatment was provided as supplementary to the main treatment, information and education (1.7%) was also the most common type of additional treatment. See technical notes for further information on calculating proportions for additional treatment type.

Between 2015–16 to 2024–25:

• Assessment only replaced counselling as the most common main treatment type from 2023–24.
  • The proportion of main treatment episodes where assessment only was the main treatment type increased from 17% in 2015–16 to 41% in 2024–25.  
• Counselling as the main treatment type increased from 32% in 2015–16 to 35% in 2024–25 and was surpassed as the most common main treatment in 2023–24.
• The proportion of withdrawal management as a main treatment type decreased from 8.4% to 3.1% in 2024–25.
• The proportion of information and education as a main treatment decreased from 33% in 2015–16 to 2.3% in 2024–25.

Agencies

In 2024–25, in Queensland:

• 7 in 10 (71%) AOD agencies were non-government treatment agencies (Table Agcy.1).
• Almost half (45%) of the 196 treatment agencies were located in Major cities, followed by Outer regional (24%) and Inner regional (19%) areas.
• 1 in 10 (12%) of all government treatment agencies were located in Remote and very remote areas (Figure QLD 5, Table Agcy.3).

In the 10 years to 2024–25, the number of publicly funded treatment agencies in Queensland steadily increased from 158 in 2015–16 to 194 in 2019–20, falling to 196 in 2024–25 (Table Agcy.1).