Drug arrests soar as seizures hit record highs
IDDR 2015-16:
Two major reports about the state of drug use in Australia have recently been released – the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission’s Illicit Drug Data Report 2015-16 (IDDR) and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s National Drug Strategy Household Survey 2016 Key Findings (NDSHS).
115,421
21 tonnes
154,538
drug seizures
of drugs seized
drug arrests
9%
increase year on year
10.8%
79,643 ARRESTS
Amphetamine-type stimulants
47,625 ARRESTS
Heroin and other opioids
2975 ARRESTS
Cocaine
2592 ARRESTS 1297 ARRESTS
Hallucinogens
915 ARRESTS
Other and unknown
19,491 ARRESTS
About 8.5 million NDSHS 2016:
increase year on year
Cannabis
Steroids
of people in Australia aged 14 or older had used an illicit drug in their lifetime
Around 3.1 million (15.6%) had illicitly used drugs in the last 12 months
The average age of first use was
19.7 years in 2016
This figure is up gradually from 13.4% in 2007
Those nominating: People first nominating meth/ amphetamine when asked about a drug problem grew significantly from
16.4% in 2007 to 46.4% in 2016
About 1 in 20
Australians had misused a pharmaceutical medicine (prescription and over-the-counter) in the past 12 months
The most commonly misused pharmaceuticals were painkillers/ opiates
Meth/amphetamine was the drug most likely to be associated with a ‘drug problem’ and perceived to be of most concern for the general community
Attitudes:
15.4%
decrease year on year
Cannabis dropped from 23% in 2007 to 14.6% in 2016 Heroin dropped from 26% to 14% Cocaine dropped from 11.0% to 8.1%
Just under 1 in 10 of Australians had misused these drugs in their lifetime. This made painkillers/ opiates the third most commonly misused illicit drug after cannabis and ecstasy
The proportion of people nominating meth/amphetamine as the drug that caused the most deaths doubled from
8.7% in 2013 to 19.2% in 2016 It was the third highest drug mentioned after alcohol and tobacco
The IDDR 2015-16 can be found here: https://www.acic.gov.au/publications/intelligence-products/illicit-drug-data-report-0 The NDSHS 2016 Key Findings are here: http://www.aihw.gov.au/alcohol-and-other-drugs/data-sources/ndshs-2016/key-findings/
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