Drug use on the rise throughout Australia

The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission’s fourth National Wastewater Drug Monitoring report found that ‘demand for harmful drugs remains robust’ despite record seizures.
 
Use of methamphetamine and cocaine have both increased.
 
The most commonly used drugs across the country are alcohol and nicotine, with methamphetamine (ice) the most common illegal drug. An estimated 8.3 tonnes of ice were consumed in Australia in 2017, according to the report.
 
The national average consumption of nicotine and alcohol was 1480 cigarettes and 1370 standard drinks a day per 1000 people. For methamphetamine, the average consumption was close to 40 doses per 1000 people a day.
 
Cocaine and heroin use is higher in Australia’s major cities, but fentanyl and methamphetamine use is higher in its rural and regional towns.
 
Darwin had the highest capital city levels of alcohol, nicotine and ecstasy use. Hobart had the highest capital city levels of oxycodone and fentanyl. Sydney and the rest of NSW had the highest cocaine use, at an increasing rate.
 
Adelaide had the highest ice use for a capital city, and Western Australia had the highest regional use.
 
Wastewater sampling tracks the excreted metabolites of 12 drugs across Australia, with sampling taking place at treatment plants covering more than half of the population. The report is based on sampling done in December 2017.

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