Clients and alcohol treatment
Alcohol is the most common PDOC clients receive treatment for
Since the beginning of the AODTS NMDS collection, alcohol (43% of episodes) has consistently been the most common principal drug of concern (PDOC) for which clients receive treatment. This is followed by amphetamines (24%), cannabis (17%) and heroin (4.5%). Pharmaceuticals as a broad drug group (codeine, morphine, buprenorphine, oxycodone, methadone, benzodiazepines, steroids, other opioids, other analgesics, and other sedatives and hypnotics) were the PDOC in 5.6% of treatment episodes (AIHW 2024). These substances are identified as priority substances in the National Drug Strategy 2017–2026.
Annual data on alcohol treatment, 2013–14 to 2022–23
Data from the annual report of the AODTS NMDS indicates that alcohol is the most common PDOC among treatment episodes provided to clients for their own drug use, accounting for 43% (92,417) of treatment episodes in 2022–23 (AIHW 2024). This represents an annual rate of 399 treatment episodes per 100,000 population (92,417 treatment episodes) and 216 clients per 100,000 population (or 50,106 clients nationally).
Over a 10-year period, client numbers and treatment episodes have increased, with rates increasing from 194 clients per 100,000 (41,842 clients) and 299 treatment episodes per 100,000 (69,491 treatment episodes) in 2013–14 (Figure alcohol treatment 1, Table alcohol treatment 1).
Figure alcohol treatment 1: Annual number and rate of clients and treatment episodes, where alcohol was a principal drug of concern, 2013–14 to 2022–23
Line graphs show the annual number and rate of clients and treatment episodes where alcohol was a principal drug of concern from 2013–14 to 2022–23.
Longitudinal client cohort who, at any point, received treatment for alcohol, between 2013–14 and 2022–23
The remainder of this report uses a longitudinal data set from the AODTS NMDS between 2013–14 to 2022–23 to describe the characteristics of clients who at any point received treatment for alcohol as a PDOC and their pathways through AOD treatment. Clients can only receive treatment for one PDOC per closed treatment episode, but clients may also receive multiple treatment episodes for different PDOCS.
In this report, clients are included if they received at least one closed treatment episode in at least one collection period (financial year) between 2013–14 and 2022–23 where alcohol was the PDOC. This includes:
- ‘Alcohol only’, refers to clients who only received treatment for alcohol (one or more treatment episodes for alcohol and no treatment episodes for another PDOC).
- ‘Alcohol and another PDOC’, refers to clients who received treatment for alcohol and another principal drug of concern (clients who received at least one treatment episode for alcohol and at least one treatment episode for another PDOC, such as amphetamines).
Information about treatment episodes provided to these clients is also included, see Technical notes for more information.
Between 2013–14 and 2022–23, a total of 244,479 clients received treatment for alcohol at any point. Over this 10-year period:
- Nearly 3 in 4 clients (73%, 179,488) received treatment for alcohol only.
- Just over 1 in 4 clients (27%, 64,991) received treatment for alcohol and another PDOC.
- Of the 836,209 treatment episodes provided, over half (51%) were provided to the 27% of clients who received treatment for alcohol and another drug (Table alcohol treatment 1).
| Number of clients | Per cent of clients | Number of treatment episodes | Per cent of treatment episodes | Average episodes per client |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Alcohol only | 179,488 | 73.4% | 412,823 | 49.4 | 2.3 |
Alcohol and ≥1 other principal drug of concern | 64,991 | 26.6% | 423,386 | 50.6 | 6.5 |
Total | 244,479 | 100% | 836,209 | 100 |
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Of the 179,488 clients who received treatment for alcohol only:
- Half (52%) of the clients were aged 40 and over when they first received treatment
- Two thirds (66%) of the clients were male.
Of the 64,991 clients who received treatment for alcohol and another PDOC:
- 3 in 4 (75%) clients were under the age of 40 when they first received treatment
- 7 in 10 (70%) of clients were male.