Summary

Publicly funded alcohol and other drug (AOD) treatment services in Australia provide services to assist people to address their problematic drug use through a range of treatments. Assistance may also be provided to support the family and friends of people using drugs.

The main findings about AOD treatment services in 2017–18—including information on clients, drugs of concern, and treatment provided—are available in the Alcohol and other drug treatment services in Australia 2017–18 detailed findings report.

This supplementary report presents key state and territory findings on specialist alcohol and other drug treatment service agencies, the people they treat, and the treatment provided in 2017–18. Client counts refer to those closed treatment episodes for which a valid statistical linkage key (SLK) has been supplied. No imputation has been applied to client counts in this section of the report.

The technical notes page provides details on the data, with further information available in the Alcohol and other drug treatment services NMDS 2017–18 Quality Statement. In addition, a series of supplementary tables accompanying the detailed findings report are also available.

Box 1.1: Key facts

In 2017–18:

  • a total of 952 publicly funded agencies provided data about services for clients seeking treatment and support in Australia, ranging from 16 in the Australian Capital Territory to 390 in New South Wales
  • nationally, alcohol was the most common principal drug of concern that led clients to seek treatment (35% of treatment episodes), and amphetamines was the second most common (27% of episodes)
  • cannabis was the most common drug of concern in Queensland (32%), and amphetamines the most common in South Australia (35%) and Western Australia (34%)
  • nationally, counselling was the most common main treatment type (39%), and was the most common in 5 of the 8 states and territories.

Over the period 2013–14 to 2017–18:

  • the number of publicly funded agencies providing data about services for clients seeking treatment and support rose from 796 to 952 agencies, an increase that was largely driven by increases in the number of reporting agencies in New South Wales (from 292 to 390) and Queensland (from 141 to 176)
  • nationally, the 4 most common principal drugs of concern remained consistent, with amphetamines increasing as a proportion of closed treatment episodes, from 17% to 27%
  • nationally, counselling remained the most common main treatment type, with assessment only and withdrawal management remaining second and third most common, respectively.