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

 In 2024–25, 127 publicly funded alcohol and other drug (AOD) treatment agencies in Western Australia provided 20,327 treatment episodes to 14,773 clients (tables Agcy.1, SCR.21).

Western Australia reported:

• Client numbers increased from 2013–14 (15,146) to 2018–19 (19,348), before decreasing steadily to 14,773 in 2024–25.
• Fewer clients are receiving AOD services in 2024–25 than 2013–14, after adjusting for population growth (556 compared with 697 per 100,000 people, respectively) (Table SCR.21). This is due to:
  • 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 (20,327 and 19,639, respectively), while over a longer period there has been a 2.6% decrease since 2013–14 (20,867) (Table SCR.21).

In 2024–25, most (82%) clients in Western Australia attended 1 treatment agency, and received an average of 1.4 treatment episodes, which is lower than the national average of 1.9 treatment episodes (tables SCR.21, SCR. 23).

Client demographics

In 2024–25 in Western Australia:

• Most (95%) clients received treatment for their own alcohol or drug use, of which 2 in 3 (63%) people were male (Figure WA 1).
• 3 in 4 people who received treatment for someone else’s alcohol or drug use were female (77%).
• Half (54%) of the people who received treatment for their own alcohol or drug use were aged 30–49 years. In contrast, people who received treatment for someone else’s alcohol or drug use were more likely to be aged 50 and over (52%).
• 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 (81%) of all clients were born in Australia and nearly all (98%) reported English as their preferred language (tables SCR WA.1–4, SCR WA.9-10, SC.5).

New and returning clients

In 2024–25:

• 2 in 5 (43%, 6,312) of all clients were a new client, who had not previously received treatment since 2013–14.
• 3 in 5 (57%, 8,419) 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 Western Australia:

• Among clients receiving treatment episodes for their own alcohol or drug use (19,412):
  • Alcohol was the most common principal drug of concern (46%, 8,827).
  • Methamphetamine was the second most common principal drug of concern (26%, 4,952) (Figure WA 2, tables ST WA.2 and ST WA.6).
• Where additional drugs of concern were reported, cannabis was the most common additional drug (18% of episodes), followed by alcohol (11%) (Figure WA 2, Table ST WA.7).
  • Clients can nominate up to 5 additional drugs of concern; however, 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 (4,952 episodes), the most common method of use was injecting (49%), followed by smoking (46%) (Figure WA 3, Table ST WA.10).

Between 2015–16 to 2024–25:

• Alcohol as a principal drug of concern rose from 30% (6,739) of all treatment episodes in 2015–16 to 46% (8,827 episodes) in 2024–25. Alcohol replaced amphetamine-related episodes as the most common principal drug of concern from 2020–21 (40%, 8,548).
• Amphetamines were the most common principal drug of concern between 2016–17 (36%) and 2019–20 (34%), with methamphetamine in over 4 in 5 of all amphetamine-related episodes over this period.
  • Methamphetamine has remained the second most common principal drug of concern since 2020–21 (25%) to 2024–25 (26%) (Table ST WA.6).  
• The proportion of treatment for cannabis decreased from 23% in 2015–16 to 15% in 2024–25.

Treatment

In 2024–25, for treatment episodes in Western Australia (20,327), counselling was the most common treatment provided (61%), followed by support and case management 12% (Figure WA 4, Table ST WA.13).

Between 2015–16 to 2024–25:

• Counselling remained the most common main treatment for all episodes.
• The proportion of episodes where counselling was a main treatment type remained substantially higher in Western Australia than nationally over the period, ranging from 61% to 71% in Western Australia compared with 32% to 40% nationally (tables ST WA.13, Trt.3).
• The next most common main treatment types were support and case management (6.4% to 12%) and withdrawal management (7.7% to 7.7%).

Agencies

In 2024–25, in Western Australia:

• 9 in 10 (90%) AOD agencies were non-government treatment agencies (Table Agcy.1).
• 3 in 5 (58%) of the 127 treatment agencies were located in Major cities (Figure WA 5, Table Agcy.3).
• Very remote areas were the only areas where there were more government than non-government agencies (8 and 5, respectively).

In the 10 years from 2015–16 to 2024–25, the number of publicly funded treatment agencies in Western Australia rose from 79 to 127 (Table Agcy.1).