Alcohol, tobacco & other drugs in Australia

Web report

Last updated: 15 Dec 2020

Author: AIHW

AIHW

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2020. Alcohol, tobacco & other drugs in Australia. Cat. no. PHE 221. Canberra: AIHW. Viewed 01 March 2021, https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/alcohol/alcohol-tobacco-other-drugs-australia

APA

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2020). Alcohol, tobacco & other drugs in Australia. Retrieved from https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/alcohol/alcohol-tobacco-other-drugs-australia

MLA

Alcohol, tobacco & other drugs in Australia. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 15 December 2020, https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/alcohol/alcohol-tobacco-other-drugs-australia

Vancouver

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Alcohol, tobacco & other drugs in Australia [Internet]. Canberra: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2020 [cited 2021 Mar. 1]. Available from: https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/alcohol/alcohol-tobacco-other-drugs-australia

Harvard

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) 2020, Alcohol, tobacco & other drugs in Australia, viewed 1 March 2021, https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/alcohol/alcohol-tobacco-other-drugs-australia

The consumption of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs is a major cause of preventable disease and illness in Australia. This report consolidates the most recently available information on alcohol, tobacco and other drug use in Australia, and includes key trends in the availability, consumption, harms and treatment for vulnerable populations. Further, information on a range of health, social and economic impacts of alcohol, tobacco and other drug use are highlighted.

This release includes data relating to COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic up to November 2020. For other data and information from this period, please see our AIHW COVID-19 resources.

DOI: Link to DOI: 10.25816/c9x6-gy43
Cat. no: PHE 221

Findings from this report:

People who inject drugs experience considerably poorer health outcomes than other drug users
Cannabis is the most widely used illicit drug in Australia
The non-medical use of pharmaceutical drugs is an ongoing public health problem in Australia
The proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who smoke has declined significantly

Summary of main data sources used in this report

Data sources

The data presented in this report are sourced from a range of different data collections from several agencies and organisations, including the:

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW)
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)
Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC)
Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC)
National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC).

Each of the data sources provide a part of the story of alcohol, tobacco and drug use. Data sources include a range of methodologies such as:

General population surveys (e.g. the National Drug Strategy Household Survey)
Surveys of sentinel populations (e.g. the Illicit Drug Reporting System, the Drug Use Monitoring in Australia program and the National Needle Syringe Program)
Population consumption data (e.g. the National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program and Apparent Consumption of Alcohol, Australia)
Administrative data (e.g. criminal courts data)

Consolidating these data sources across multiple collections into one place provides a more complete story of current and emerging trends. However, it is also important to note methodological differences that can influence the comparability of results across collections (for example, see Technical notes: Comparison of national data sources on smoking and alcohol consumption).

The data contained in this report will be updated when more recent data become available. Further information about the data sources used in this report are available here.

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics
Source year	Data source	Frequency of publication	Information
2012–13	Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey	Every 6 years	Includes a range of health data including behavioural health risk factors such as smoking, alcohol consumption and illicit drug use for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. It combines the ABS National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey (NATSIHS) with a National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey (NATSINPAS) and a National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Measures Survey (NATSIHMS).
2018–19	National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey	Every 6 years	Includes a range of health data including behavioural health risk factors such as smoking, alcohol consumption and illicit drug use for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders
2017–18	National Health Survey	Every 3 years	Smoking rates, alcohol consumption and substance use, and links to other health issues
2014–15	National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey	Every 6 years	Health risk factors in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander persons such as smoking rates, alcohol consumption and substance use
2017–18	Apparent consumption of alcohol	Annual	Estimates of apparent consumption of alcohol based on the availability of alcoholic beverages in Australia.
2016, 2017, and 2018	Causes of Death, Australia	Annual	Provides details on causes of death in Australia and demographics for all deaths registered in Australian annual.
2016	Personal Safety Survey	Every 4 years	The survey collected information about the nature and extent of violence experienced by men and women since the age of 15, including their experience of violence in the 12 months prior to the survey.
2018–19	Recorded Crime - Offenders	Annual	Persons proceeded against by police by principal offence (broadly illicit drugs)
2018–19	Criminal Courts Australia	Annual	Defendants finalised by principal offences (broadly illicit drugs)
2018–19	Crime Victimisation Australia	Annual	People's experiences of a selected range of personal and household crimes
2017–18	Prisoners in Australia	Annual	National statistics on all persons remanded or sentenced to adult custodial corrective services

Source: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
Source year	Data source	Frequency of publication	Information
2011	Burden of disease: Impact and causes of illness and death in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people	Ad hoc	Data on the fatal and non-fatal burden of alcohol and illicit drug disorders on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders
2015	Burden of disease: Impact and Causes of illness and death in Australia	Previous update used 2011 data	Data on the fatal and non-fatal burden of alcohol and illicit drug disorders on population groups
2018	Mothers and babies	Annual	The report includes data on the proportion of mothers’ smoking during pregnancy and babies born to mothers who smoked during pregnancy.
2019	National Drug Strategy Household Survey	Every 3 years	Data on Alcohol, tobacco and other drug use in Australia
2018	National Mortality database	Annual	Data on records for deaths in Australia from 1964
2019–20	Specialist Homelessness Services annual report	Annual	Clients by need for services (alcohol and drug counselling)
2018–19	Youth Justice in Australia	Annual	Information about young people under youth justice supervision in Australia
2018–19	Alcohol and other Drug Treatment Services National Minimum Data Set	Annual	Data on alcohol and other drug treatment services
2019	National Opioid Pharmacotherapy Statistical Annual Data Collection (NOPSAD)	Annual	The NOPSAD collection provides information on a snapshot day in June 2019 on clients receiving opioid pharmacotherapy treatment, the doctors prescribing opioid pharmacotherapy drugs, and the dosing points.
2018	The Health of Australia’s Prisoners	Every 3 years	Data on tobacco use, illicit drug use and alcohol consumption prior and during prison sentence
2018–19	National Hospital Morbidity Database	Annual	Episode-level records from admitted patient morbidity data collection systems in Australian hospitals. The data set for the reference period 2018–19 includes records for admitted patient separations between 1 July 2018 and 30 June 2019.

Source: Cancer Council Victoria
Source year	Data source	Frequency of publication	Information
2017	Australian Secondary School Students’ use of tobacco, alcohol, and over-the-counter and illicit substances in 2017	Every 3 years	Lifetime and current use of tobacco, alcohol, analgesics, tranquilisers and illicit substances and related behaviours, 12–17 year olds.
2019	Chapter 2. Trends in tobacco consumption in Tobacco in Australia: Facts and issues	As material becomes available	In particular, subsections: Scollo & Bayly 2.2 Dutiable tobacco products as an estimate of tobacco consumption Bayly and Scollo, 2.4 Expenditure on tobacco products Bayly and Scollo, 2.5 Industry sales figures as estimates for consumption.

Source: Australian Institute of Criminology
Source year	Data source	Frequency of publication	Information
2011	Counting the costs of crime in Australia: a 2011 estimate	Ad-hoc	Data on the human economic cost of drug abuse in Australia.
2019	Drug use monitoring in Australia: Drug use among police detainees, 2019	Annual	Data on changes in alcohol and other drug consumption habits among Australian police detainees and through its monitoring and reporting of fluctuations in the illicit drug market
2017–18	Homicide in Australia 2017–18	Annual	Data from the National Homicide Monitoring Program on homicide incidents, victims and offenders in Australia.

Source: Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission
Source year	Data source	Frequency of publication	Information
2018–19	Illicit Drug Data Report	Annual	National data on the illicit drug market, including arrests, detections, seizures, purity, profiling and price data.
2020	National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program (NWDMP) Report	3 times a year	The NWDMP measures the presence of 13 drugs (both licit and illicit) in samples obtained from wastewater treatment plants in capital city and regional sites across Australia.

Source: National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre
Source year	Data source	Frequency of publication	Information
2019	Illicit Drug Reporting System (IDRS)	Annual	A national illicit drug monitoring system with interviews with a sample of regular injecting drug users, interviews with experts and additional contextual information. The IDRS monitors the price, purity and availability of heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine, cannabis and other drugs. Along with trends in the use and harms of these drugs.
2019	The Ecstasy and related Drugs Reporting System (EDRS)	Annual	The Ecstasy and Related Drugs Reporting System (EDRS) is a national monitoring system for ecstasy and related drugs that is intended to identify emerging trends of local and national interest in the markets for these drugs.
2019	Trends in drug-induced deaths in Australia, 1997–2018		A suite of products summarising trends in drug-induced deaths in Australia from 1997–2018.
2019	Trends in drug-related hospitalisations in Australia, 1999–2018		A suite of products summarising trends in drug-induced hospitalisations in Australia from 1999–2018

Source: National Drug Research Institute
Source year	Data source	Frequency of publication	Information
2016–17	Young Australians Alcohol Reporting System (YAARS)	Ad hoc	Non–random national sample 3,400 risky drinkers. The participants were recruited online and screened to check whether their qualified to be in the top 25% of risky drinkers. The survey looks into the risky drinking patterns of adolescents aged 14–19, by taking a ‘snapshot’ of the details of their most recent risky drinking occasion.

Source: The Kirby Institute
Source year	Data source	Frequency of publication	Information
2018	Australian Needle Syringe National Data report	Annual	The Australian Needle and Syringe Program Survey (ANSPS) provides serial point prevalence estimates of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) antibodies and sexual and injecting risk behaviour among people who inject drugs (PWID) in Australia.

Source: Bureau of Infrastructure and Regional Development
Source year	Data source	Frequency of publication	Information
2018	Road trauma Australia 2018 statistical summary	Annual	Provides annual data on road fatalities and includes data on road trauma incidents involving alcohol

Source: Turning point – Victoria
Source year	Data source	Frequency of publication	Information
2018	AMBO-Stats	Annual	AODstats provides information on the harms related to alcohol, illicit and pharmaceutical drug use in Victoria.

Source: International
Source year	Data source	Frequency of publication	Information
2018	UNODC – World Drug Report 2020	Annual	United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime data from a range of counties—includes supply, prevalence, price, and treatment data.
2019	OECD – Health Statistics 2019	Annual	Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development includes prevalence of smoking and alcohol consumption by country, mortality and morbidity statistics and pharmaceuticals.

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