SUMMARY OF KEY FINDINGS
The Victorian Drug Statistics Handbook: Patterns of drug use and related harm in Victoria for the period July 2010 to June 2011
Alcohol: Alcohol was the most widely used drug by Victorians in 2010, particularly among males. The majority (79%) of people aged 14 and over identified as current drinkers and almost half (44%) reported drinking regularly. A substantial proportion of Victorians aged 18 and over reported at-risk consumption patterns, including both single occasion risk (39%) and lifetime at-risk (19%) drinking. In 2010, alcohol abstention increased in young Victorians aged 14 to 17 and 18 to 24 years. However, while weekly single occasion risky drinking decreased (from 32% in 2007 to 23% in 2010) among 18 to 24 year olds, it increased among 14 to 17 year olds (from 6% in 2007 to 9% in 2010).In Melbourne, alcohol-related ambulance attendances increased substantiallyin 2011compared with 2010, and the highest numbers were observed in the LGAs of Melbourne, Port Phillip and Greater Dandenong. While alcohol-related inpatient hospitalisations declined (1%) in 2010–11, bed days increased (1%), with alcohol-related mental andbehavioural conditions accounting for close to 40 percent of each. Consistent with previous years, in 2010–11 alcohol was the most common drug of concern among clients of Victorian government-funded specialist alcohol and other drug (AOD) treatment services, accounting for nearly half of all clients (47%) and courses of treatment (COT) (47%).
Benzodiazepines and other minor tranquillisers: Over 1.45 million subsidised benzodiazepine prescriptions were dispensed through Victorian community pharmacies during 2011, but in 2010–11 few clients (3%) in Victorian AOD treatment services cited benzodiazepines as the primary drug of concern. In 2011, benzodiazepine-related ambulance attendances decreased by eight percent compared with 2010, accounting for 15 percent of drug-related cases attended in Melbourne; the majority (54%) involved females. Consistent with previous years, in 2010-11more than one-quarter (28%) of drug-related hospitalisations were attributed to benzodiazepines, with females overrepresented in hospital admissions (57%) and bed days (62%).
Cannabis: In 2010–11, cannabis was the most common illicit drug of concern among clients of government-funded Victorian specialist AOD treatment services (23% of COT, 25% of clients), and compared with 2010, cannabis-related calls to the DirectLine telephone counselling service declined by five percent in 2011. Ambulance attendances relating to cannabis increased by 10 percent in 2011, whereas in 2010–11, hospital admissions decreased by 14 percent. In 2010–11, half (52%) of all Victorian drug-related arrests were for cannabis use and possession, with cannabis-related arrests increasing by one percent.
Heroin and other opioids: In 2010, the prevalence of recent heroin use remained very low in the Victorian general population. For 2010-11, evidence suggested heroin and other opioid-related harms fluctuated. In 2011, non-fatal heroin overdoses attended by ambulance decreased by 14 percent in Melbourne to 1,241 cases, with almost one-sixth occurring in the City of Yarra. During 2010-11, opioid-related hospitalisations increased by eight percent, while opioid-related bed days declined by one percent, and hospitalisations for heroin overdose increased by six percent. Specialist AOD treatment for heroin constituted 12 percent of all Victorian COT in 2010–11 (excluding pharmacotherapy provided by community GPs), while other opioids represented four percent. In the year to July 2011, the number of clients dispensed pharmacotherapy increased by approximately four percent, with a total of 13,755 clients receiving opioid replacement therapy.
Methamphetamine and other stimulants: Measures of drug-related harm suggested that, generally, stimulant use increased in Victoria during 2010 and 2011. In 2010-11, the proportion of clients citing stimulants as the primary drug of concern (10%) was relatively stable with 2009-10, representing eight percent of courses of treatment in government-funded specialist AOD services in Victoria. In Melbourne, recent crystal methamphetamine use increased amongst regular injectors (36% in 2010 to 53% in 2011) and regular ecstasy users (18% in 2010 to 38% in 2011), whilst stimulant-related ambulance attendances increased by 28 percent. Although stimulant-related hospitalisations increased by 28 percent during 2010-11, they accounted for less than ten percent of drug-related hospitalisations (8%) and hospital bed days (8%). In 2010-11, Victorian stimulant-related arrests declined, and while the number of stimulant seizures rose, the total weight of seizures decreased.
GHB: Very few Victorians reported using GHB in 2010, with less than one percent of the population reporting lifetime or recent use. Lifetime GHB use was most common among the 25 to 34 year age group, although use in the preceding year was most common among 14 to 24 year olds. In 2010, one percent of young people aged 16 to 24 years reported ever using GHB, with 0.5 percent reporting use in the past year. In 2011, lifetime GHB use increased among regular ecstasy users in Melbourne compared with 2010, however recent use dropped to just six percent. In 2011, the CounsellingOnline service delivered seven online GHB-related treatment episodes. During the same period, Ambulance Victoria attended 409 GHB-related cases in Melbourne, with the majority occurring outdoors and in public spaces.
Hallucinogens: In 2010, while the prevalence of hallucinogen use remained low, increases in lifetime and recent use were reported amongVictorians aged 14 years and over. Hallucinogens were identified as the primary drug of concern in less than one percent (n=77) of COT delivered by Victorian specialist AOD treatment services in 2010–11. In 2010-11, 37 people were hospitalised as a result of hallucinogen use, with the majority of hospital admissions (68%) and bed days (40%) due to hallucinogen-related intoxication and dependence, respectively. In 2011, hallucinogen-related ambulance attendances increased, to 62LSD-related and 25 ketamine-related ambulance attendances in metropolitan Melbourne.
Inhalants: In 2010, the prevalence of recent inhalant use in the Victorian population was very low and parallel with the very low levels of inhalant-related COT (<1%) and hospitalisations (n=13) during 2010-11. The majority (69%) of hospitalisations involved females. In 2011, there were 127 inhalant-related ambulance attendances in metropolitan Melbourne, with more than half (56%) involving males. No inhalant-related deaths were recorded in Victoria in 2007.
Steroids: The prevalence of steroid use in Victoria remained extremely low, with less than 0.5 percent of the general population reporting lifetime or recent use of steroids in 2010. In 2010-11, the number of drug tests conducted among elite sports people increased compared with 2009–10. Treatment and morbidity data suggested very few acute steroid-related harms in 2010-11; steroids comprised 11 episodes of Victorian AOD specialist drug treatment and six Victorian hospitalisations. During 2010-11, one steroid seizure was detected by police and 30 steroid-related arrests were made.
Tobacco: Approximately 15 percent of the Victorian general population were regular smokers in 2010, with the highest prevalence of daily use reported among adults aged 20 to 49 years (18%). Tobacco continued to account for a large proportion of drug-related harm in Victoria during the 2010-11 financial year. In 2010-11, tobacco consumption represented 57 percent of all Victorian drug-related hospitalisations and two percent of all Victorian hospitalisations. In 2010–11, hospital admissions were higher among males (65%), remaining largely unchanged from previous years. Non-metropolitan Victorian regions had higher rates of tobacco-related hospital admissions than the Victorian average. In 2007, tobacco-related mortality increased by five percent to 4,199 deaths, comprising 12 percent of all Victorian deaths for that year.
Injecting drug use trends: Needle and syringe program distribution and supply increased by two and six percent, respectively, from 2010 to 2011. Hepatitis C continued to be of serious concern in Victoria among people who inject drugs— 75 percent of newly acquired Victorian cases were attributed to injecting drug use. By comparison, HIV transmission attributable to injecting drug use represented one per cent of new Victorian HIV notifications.
Polydrug use: Polydrug use refers to the concurrent use of more than one drug on a single occasion or within a defined period of time. Polydrug use is common among people who regularly inject drugs and people who regularly use ecstasy. In 2011, IDRS[1]participants most commonly reported the use of tobacco (95%), cannabis (85%), heroin (81%) and prescribed and illicit forms of benzodiazepines (71%) in the preceding six months, with the majority also reporting the use of alcohol (70%) and methamphetamine (65%) during that time. The drugs most commonly injected by this group in the past six months were heroin (81%), methamphetamine (65%) and prescribed and illicit forms of oxycodone (36%) andmorphine (33%). Similarly, 94 percent of 2011 EDRS[2]participants reported the concurrent use of other drugs with ecstasy; 70 percent reported smoking tobacco, 67 percent reported consuming more than five standard alcoholic drinks per session and 55 percent reported using cannabis. Sixty-seven percent reported using other drugs during the ecstasy ‘comedown‘, with the majority (69%) reporting the use of cannabis, compared to just 40 percent reporting benzodiazepine use. In addition to the use of ecstasy (100%), participants most commonly reported using alcohol (97%), cannabis (86%), tobacco (82%) and methamphetamine powder (69%) in the preceding six months. The range of drug types used by participants in both studies suggests that polydrug use is the norm rather than the exception among people who use drugs on a regular basis. In 2010-11, polydrug use was also the norm among clients receiving specialist treatment for their amphetamine (70%), heroin (70%) and cannabis (62%) use, with polydrug use identified in the majority of courses of treatment delivered to clients presenting with these drugs as the primary concern.
1
[1] Illicit Drug Reporting System.
[2] Ecstasy and related Drug Reporting System.