Drug statistics

Illicit drug use in the last 12 months

According to the 2019 National Drug Strategy Household Survey, 16.4% of Australians had used an illicit drug in the last 12 months. The South Australian percentage was lower at 15.4%.  The Recent use of any illicit drug 2001-2019 (PDF 11KB) graph illustrates this finding.

The most commonly used illicit drug in South Australia (at least once in the last 12 months) in 2019 was cannabis (10.6%) followed by cocaine (2.5%), inhalants (1.3%) and ecstasy (1.3%). Recent use of meth/amphetamine decreased significantly between 2016 (1.9%) and 2019 (1%). The percentage of men who reported using illicit drugs was higher than that of women (16.7% compared with 14.1%) and the age group with the highest percentage of people who reported recent illicit drug use was age 20-29 years (28.6%).

Illicit drug use among secondary school students

The proportion of secondary school students who had ever used at least one illicit drug (includes cannabis, methamphetamine, ecstasy, cocaine, heroin and hallucinogens) has decreased significantly since 1996. In 2017, 12.8% of students reported ever using at least one illicit drug; this remained stable between 2014 and 2017.

In 2017, there were no significant differences between male and female students: 12.6% of male students reported ever using at least one illicit drug compared with 13.1% of female students. However, there were differences in use by age group: those aged 16-17 years were significantly more likely to have ever used at least one illicit drug (18.2% vs. 9.7% of those aged 12-15 years) or to have used in the last year (17.6% vs. 7.4%). Data on illicit drug use in the last week was not included due to unreliable estimates.

Cannabis is the most commonly used illicit drug, 10.2% of secondary school students in 2017 had ever used cannabis. This has remained stable since 2008, although there has been a significant decrease since 1996.

In 2017, there were no significant differences between male and female students: 10.4% of male students reported ever using at cannabis compared with 10.1% of female students. However, there were differences in use by age group: those aged 16-17 years were significantly more likely to have ever used cannabis (17% vs. 6.6% of those aged 12-15 years) or to have used in the last year (16.4% vs. 5.3%). Data on cannabis use in the last week was not included due to unreliable estimates.

Illicit drug use requiring treatment services

In South Australia, alcohol was the most common principal drug of concern for which treatment was sought in 2021-22, accounting for 41% of closed treatment episodes (37% in 2020-21). This was followed by amphetamines (31%; 33% in 2020-21) and cannabis (15%; 15% in 2020-21). Up until 2015-16, alcohol was the most common principal drug of concern, when it was replaced by amphetamines.  This has shifted in more recent years: in 2020-21 and 2021-22, the proportion of episodes where alcohol was the principal drug of concern was greater than amphetamines (37% compared with 33% in 2020-21, and 41% compared with 31% in 2021-22).

More detailed findings are provided in the following research publication:

Overdose deaths

Information on the number and rate of drug-induced deaths in Australia among between 1997 and 2021 can be found in a bulletin released by the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre. This bulletin reports on opioid, amphetamine, and cocaine-induced deaths provided by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) using data from the National Coronial Information System (NCIS). The bulletin can be found here.

This bulletin includes an online visualisation that allows viewers to look at trends over time by drug, opioid class, jurisdiction, sex, age group, intent, as well as reporting on drug-induced deaths where amphetamine or cocaine are contributory (capturing where cocaine or amphetamine contributed to, but another drug caused, death). The link to this is found in the bulletin.

Drug trends

The Illicit Drug Reporting System (IDRS) provides information about drug trends:

Blood-borne virus infection

The Australian Needle and Syringe Program Survey (ANSPS) provides estimates of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) antibodies among people who inject drugs in Australia.

The most recent report can be found here.

There has been a significant decrease in the last decade in HCV antibody prevalence in Australia, from 53% in 2012 to 32% in 2022. This has also decreased significantly in the last five years, with prevalence at 45% in 2018. HCV antibody prevalence in South Australia decreased significantly between 2018 (40%) and 2022 (34%).

For HIV there has been no significant change in antibody prevalence in the last decade in Australia, from 1.2% in 2012 to 2.1% in 2022, as well as no change in the last five years, with prevalence at 1.7% in 2018.  In South Australia, HIV antibody prevalence has remained stable over the last five years, and was at 0.4% in 2022. Note that the actual numbers are small (no respondents tested positive for HIV in 2022 in South Australia, and 37 nationally).