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

In 2023–24, 21 publicly funded alcohol and other drug (AOD) treatment agencies in Tasmania provided 3,703 treatment episodes to 2,757 clients (tables Agcy.1, SCR.21).

Tasmania reported:

• Client numbers increased 13%, from 2,432 in 2013–14 to 2,757 in 2023–24.
• Fewer clients are receiving AOD services in 2023–24 than 2013–14, after adjusting for population growth (536 clients per 100,000 people compared with 540, respectively) (Table SCR.21).
• There was a 4.7% increase in treatment episodes from 3,536 in 2022–23 to 3,703 in 2023–24, and a 14% increase in treatment episodes since 2014–15 (3,241) (Table ST TAS.2).

In 2023–24, most (87%) clients in Tasmania attended 1 treatment agency, and received an average of 1.3 treatment episodes, which is lower than national average of 1.8 treatment episodes (tables SCR.21, SCR.23).

Client demographics

In 2023–24:

• Most (95%) clients in Tasmania received treatment for their own alcohol or drug use, of which 3 in 5 (62%) people were male (Figure TAS 1).
• People who received treatment for someone else’s alcohol or drug use were most likely to be female (71%).
• Half (50%) of all clients were aged 20–39 years.
• 1 in 7 (15%) of all clients were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (First Nations) people, which is lower than the national proportion (18%).
• The majority (94%) of all clients were born in Australia and nearly all (97%) reported English as their preferred language (tables SCR TAS.1–4, SCR TAS.9–10, SC.5).

New and returning clients

In 2023–24:

• Nearly (47%,1,292) of all clients in Tasmania were a new client, who had not previously received treatment since 2013–14.
• Over half (53%, 1,440) of all clients in Tasmania 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 Tasmania receiving treatment episodes for their own alcohol or drug use (3,535):

• Alcohol was the most common principal drug of concern (49%, 1,737 episodes) (Figure TAS 2, Table ST TAS.7)
• Amphetamines as a principal drug of concern accounted for 1 in 4 treatment episodes (25%, 892).

In 2023–24, for clients who received treatment for their own use of amphetamines (892 episodes):

• Methamphetamine was reported as a principal drug of concern in 9 in 10 (87%) treatment episodes (Table ST TAS.6).
• Half (48%) of treatment episodes where methamphetamine was a principal drug of concern, smoking was the most common method of use, followed by injecting (45%) (Figure TAS 3, Table ST TAS.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, cannabis was the most common additional drug of concern (16% of episodes), followed by amphetamines (9.7%), then nicotine (8.5%) (Table ST TAS.7).

Over the period 2014–15 to 2023–24:

• Alcohol was the most common principal drug of concern, increasing from 40% of episodes in 2014–15 (1,200) to 49% (1,737) in 2023–24 (Table ST TAS.7).
• Treatment episodes for amphetamines increased from 18% (545) to 25% (892) over the period.
• Treatment episodes for cannabis decreased from 29% (861) to 15% (541).
• Within the amphetamines group, methamphetamine was reported as the principal drug of concern in 55% of episodes in 2014–15, rising to 93% in 2019–20, falling to 87% in 2023–24 (Figure TAS 3). The rise in episodes may be related to increases in funded treatment services and/or improvement in agency coding practices for methamphetamine.

Treatment

In 2023–24, for treatment episodes in Tasmania (3,703):

• Counselling was the most common main treatment (56% of episodes), followed by rehabilitation (24%) (Figure TAS 4, Table ST TAS.13).
• Where an additional treatment was provided as a supplementary to the main treatment, support and case management (6.6%) was the most common type of additional treatment, followed by counselling (3.2%) and information and education (1.8%). See technical notes for further information on calculating proportions for additional treatment type.

Over the period 2014–15 to 2023–24:

• Counselling remained the most common main treatment, with the proportion of episodes falling from 43% in 2014-15 to 37% in 2016–17, before increasing to 56% in 2023-24.
• Rehabilitation increased from 11% in 2014–15 to 24% in 2023–24, the proportion of episodes for rehabilitation is higher than the national proportion over this period (ranging from 5.6–7.0%) (tables ST TAS.13, Trt.1).

Agencies

Tasmania only has the geographical classifications of Inner regional, Outer regional and Remote areas.

In 2023–24, in Tasmania:

• 8 in 10 (81%) AOD treatment agencies were non-government agencies.
• 57% of agencies were located in Inner regional areas, followed by Outer regional (43%) (Figure TAS 5, Table Agcy.3).
• Agencies located in Inner regional and Outer regional areas were more likely to be non-government organisations.

In the 10 years to 2023–24, the number of publicly funded treatment agencies in Tasmania increased from 19 in 2014–15 to 27 in 2017-18, before decreasing to 21 in 2023-24 (Table Agcy.1).

Note that remoteness categories are derived by applying a correspondence based on the agency’s Statistical Area level 2 code (SA2). Not all SA2 codes fit neatly within a single remoteness category, and a ratio is applied to reapportion each SA2 to the applicable remoteness categories. As a result, it is possible that the number of agencies in a particular remoteness category is not a whole number. After rounding, this can result in there being ‘<0.5%’ agencies in a remoteness area, due to the agency’s SA2 partially crossing into the remoteness area. See technical notes for further details.