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

 In 2024–25, 20 publicly funded alcohol and other drug (AOD) treatment agencies in Tasmania provided 3,685 treatment episodes to 2,804 clients (tables Agcy.1, SCR.21).

Tasmania reported:

• Client numbers increased from 2,432 in 2013–14 to 2,804 in 2024–25.
• Client numbers between 2013–14 and 2024–25 remained stable, after adjusting for population growth (543 clients per 100,000 people compared with 540, respectively) (Table SCR.21).
• There was a similar number of treatment episodes in 2024–25 compared with the previous year (3,685 and 3,703, respectively), and a 30% increase since 2013–14 (2,841) (Table SCR.21).

In 2024–25, most (88%) clients in Tasmania attended 1 treatment agency, and received an average of 1.3 treatment episodes, which is lower than national average of 1.9 treatment episodes (tables SCR.21, SCR.23).

Client demographics

In 2024–25 in Tasmania:

• Most (94%) clients received treatment for their own alcohol or drug use, of which 3 in 5 (61%) 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 (48%) of all clients were aged 30–49 years.
• 1 in 7 (15%) of all clients were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (First Nations) people, which is lower than the national proportion (19%).
• The majority (93%) of all clients were born in Australia and nearly all (96%) reported English as their preferred language (tables SCR TAS.1–4, SCR TAS.9–10, SC.5).

New and returning clients

In 2024–25:

• Half (47%, 1,295) of all clients were a new client, who had not previously received treatment since 2013–14.
• Half (53%, 1,481) 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 Tasmania:

• Among clients receiving treatment episodes for their own alcohol or drug use (3,473):
  • Alcohol was the most common principal drug of concern (48%, 1,658 episodes) (Figure TAS 2, Table ST TAS.7)
  • Methamphetamine was the second most common, accounting for 1 in 5 treatment episodes (21%, 718).

In 2024–25, for clients who received treatment for their own use of methamphetamine (718 episodes), the most common method of use was injecting (41%), followed by smoking (39%) (Figure TAS 3, Table ST TAS.10).

Between 2015–16 to 2024–25:

• Alcohol was the most common principal drug of concern, increasing from 39% of all episodes in 2015–16 (1,379) to 48% (1,658) in 2024–25 (Table ST TAS.7).
• Treatment episodes for methamphetamine increased when improvements in reporting reliability was evident from 2019–20 (971), falling in 2024–25 (718 episodes).  
• Treatment episodes for cannabis decreased from 26% (918) of all treatment episodes to 14% (498).

Treatment

In 2024–25, for treatment episodes in Tasmania (3,685):

• Counselling was the most common main treatment (58% of episodes), followed by Assessment only (18%) (Figure TAS 4, Table ST TAS.13).
• Where an additional treatment was provided as a supplementary to the main treatment, support and case management (5.4%) was 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:

• Counselling remained the most common main treatment, with episodes rising from 1,645 (43%) in 2015–16 to 2,143 (58%) in 2024–25.
• Assessment only decreased from 1,102 (29%) episodes to 647 (18%) in 2024–25.
• The number of episodes with rehabilitation rose from 568 (15%) in 2015–16 peaking at 882 (24%) in 2023–24, before dropping by half to 401 (11%) in 2024–25.
• The proportion of episodes for rehabilitation in Tasmania is higher than the national proportion over this period (ranging from 6-8%) (tables ST TAS.13, Trt.1).

Agencies

In 2024–25, in Tasmania:

• 8 in 10 (80%) AOD treatment agencies were non-government agencies.
• 55% of agencies were located in Inner regional areas, followed by Outer regional (45%) (Figure TAS 5, Table Agcy.3).
• Agencies located in Inner regional and Outer regional areas were more likely to be non-government organisations.

Between 2015–16 and 2024–25, the number of publicly funded treatment agencies in Tasmania increased from 23 in 2015–16 to 27 in 2017–18, before decreasing to 20 in 2024–25 (Table Agcy.1). For further information on remoteness areas see technical notes for further details.