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

In 2023–24, 350 publicly funded alcohol and other drug (AOD) treatment agencies in Victoria provided 97,509 treatment episodes to 38,700 people (tables Agcy.1, SCR.21).

Victoria reported:

• There was a 3.4% increase in client numbers in 2023–24 (38,700) compared with the previous year (37,417).
• Client numbers increased gradually from 2013–14 (29,548), with the largest increase in clients from 2017–18 (33,006) to 2019–20 (37,391).
• More clients are receiving AOD services in 2023–24 than 2013–14, after adjusting for population growth (634 clients per 100,000 people, compared with 580, respectively).
• There was a 5% increase in treatment episodes in 2023–24 (97,509) compared with the previous year (92,888) (Table SCR.21).
• The number of treatment episodes increased by 113% since 2014–15 (45,855) to 2023–24 (97,509) (Table ST VIC.2).

In 2023–24, 7 in 10 (69%) clients in Victoria attended 1 agency and received an average of 2.5 treatment episodes, which is higher than the national average of 1.8 treatment episodes (tables SCR.21, SCR.23). This is due to the methods used in Victoria’s data collection system, where each type of treatment (regardless of main or additional treatment) results in a separate treatment episode (see Data Quality Statement for further information).

Client demographics

In 2023–24:

• 8 in 10 (83%) clients in Victoria received treatment for their own alcohol or drug use, of which more than half (56%) of people were male (Figure VIC 1, tables SCR VIC.1-2).
• 2% of all clients reported sex as ‘another term’, the highest proportion reported across all states and territories in the collection period. ‘Another term’ replaced the category ‘other’ in 2022–23 (Table SCR VIC.2).
• Half (53%) of all people were aged 20–39 years.
• 1 in 10 (10%) of all clients were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (First Nations) people, which is lower than the national proportion (18%).
• The majority (82%) of all clients were born in Australia and most (94%) reported English as their preferred language (tables SCR VIC.1–4, SCR VIC.9–10, SC.5).

New and returning clients

In 2023–24:

• 2 in 5 (41%, 15,681) clients in Victoria were a new client, who had not previously received treatment since 2013–14.
• 3 in 5 (59%, 22,980) of all clients in Victoria 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 Victoria receiving treatment episodes for their own alcohol or drug use (79,491 episodes):

• Alcohol was the most common principal drug of concern, accounting for 39% (30,747) of treatment episodes.
• Amphetamines (28%, 22,347) were the second most common principal drug of concern, followed by cannabis (16%, 12,732) (Figure VIC 2, Table ST VIC.6).

In 2023–24, for clients who received treatment for their own use of amphetamines (22,347 episodes):

• Methamphetamine was reported as a principal drug of concern in nearly 7 in 10 (69%, 15,447) treatment episodes (Figure VIC 3).
• Smoking was the most common method of use in 59% of episodes where methamphetamine was the principal drug of concern, followed by injecting (18%) (Figure VIC 3, tables ST VIC.6 and ST VIC.10).

Victoria is working with service providers to encourage more specific reporting of amphetamine use (for example, to reduce the use of ‘amphetamines not further defined’ code where possible).

In 2019–20, Victoria reported comparatively high incidences of ‘Not stated drugs’ (15%) as the drug of concern. This proportion decreased in 2020–21 (2.1%), due to work with service providers by the Victorian Agency for Health Information to encourage more specific reporting of drug of concern. In 2023–24, this remains low, 3.5% of treatment episodes. For more information see the Data quality statement.

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 (8.9% of episodes), followed by nicotine and alcohol (6.5% and 6.0%, respectively) (Table ST VIC.7).

Over the period 2014–15 to 2023–24:

• Alcohol was the most common principal drug of concern for treatment episodes except in 2019–20 when amphetamines were the most common principal drug of concern (28% and 29% respectively):
  • The proportion of episodes fluctuated from 37% in 2014–15 to 28% in 2019–20, before increasing to 39% in 2023–24.
  • The number of episodes almost doubled from 15,820 in 2014–15 to 30,747 in 2023–24, an increase of 94% (Figure VIC 2, Table ST VIC.7).
• Amphetamines were the second most common principal drug of concern for treatment episodes except in 2014–15, when cannabis was the second most common principal drug of concern (22%):
  • The proportion of episodes with a principal drug of concern for amphetamines increased from 19% in 2014–15 to peak at 30% in 2018–19, decreasing slightly in 2023–24 (28%).
  • Within the amphetamines group, methamphetamine was reported as the principal drug of concern for the first time in 2014–15 (2.2% of episodes) followed by a large increase in 2018–19 (43% of episodes) and 2023–24 (69% of episodes) (Figure VIC 3, Table ST VIC.6).
  • The rise in episodes for methamphetamine is mainly due to improvements in agency coding practices for methamphetamine, although some of the increase in episodes could be related to increases in funded treatment services.
• The proportion of treatment episodes for cannabis decreased from 22% in 2014–15 to 16% in 2023–24 (Figure VIC 2, Table ST VIC.7).

Treatment

In 2023–24, for treatment episodes in Victoria (97,509):

• Counselling and support and case management were the most common treatment types (both 23% of episodes) followed by assessment only (21%) (Figure VIC 4, Table ST VIC.13). 
• The majority of services who submit AODTS NMDS data use the Victorian Alcohol and Drug Collection (VADC), which does not differentiate between main and other treatment types. The small proportion of services who submit AODTS NMDS data directly to the AIHW do not need to comply to VADC collection requirements, and thus will apply different counting methods to that used by the VADC.

Over the period from 2014–15 to 2023–24:

• Counselling remained one of the most common treatments provided for all episodes in 2023–24 (23%), though this proportion has halved since 2014–15 (51%).
• Support and case management as a main treatment increased from 14% in 2014–15, peaking in 2015–16 (30%) and falling to 23% in 2023–24.
• Assessment only as a main treatment increased from 9.7% in 2014–15 to 21% in 2023–24.
• Withdrawal management decreased from 18% to 9.0% and ‘other’ treatment increased from 0.5% to 19% over the same period (Figure VIC 4, Table ST VIC.13). 

Increases in ‘other’ treatment in Victoria relate to additional funding for programs where the main treatment type was categorised as ‘other’. This includes other types of services coded within the VADC collection (which started in 2018), these may not align with standard main treatment types.

Agencies

In 2023–24, in Victoria:

• Only 3 of the 350 AOD agencies in Victoria were government treatment agencies.
• 3 in 5 (58%) treatment services were located in Major cities, followed by Inner regional areas (29%) (Figure VIC 5; Table Agcy.3)
• Victoria does not have any areas classified as Remote or Very remote.

In the period from 2014–15 to 2023–24, the number of publicly funded treatment agencies in Victoria increased from 140 in 2014–15 to 404 in 2018–19, dropping to 350 in 2023–24 (Table Agcy.1).

The increase in agency numbers over time in Victoria is attributed to counting each location of a service delivery outlet, which may be located in different areas for a single agency.