Spiralling living costs have had little impact on illicit drug use, as Australians consume record amounts of ketamine and other banned substances.
The latest wastewater monitoring report from the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) showed the use of both methamphetamine and cocaine had reached the highest levels in three years, based on data from April and June 2023.
The ACIC said Australians were relatively high per-capita users of illicit stimulants in particular and were willing to pay premium prices for drugs.
While the average consumption of heroin, MDMA and fentanyl had decreased compared with the last report, there were increases in alcohol and oxycodone use.
Methamphetamine and cocaine consumption increased to the highest levels recorded since 2020.
In April 2023, the data showed record-high ketamine use in cities and the regions, with higher consumption in capitals than in regional areas.
In cities, per-person use of methamphetamine, cocaine, MDMA, heroin and ketamine exceeded that of regional areas.
But in the regions, alcohol, nicotine, oxycodone, fentanyl and cannabis consumption exceeded per-capita use in capital cities.
The release of the report came as the Victorian coroner’s court said the state recorded the highest number of overdose deaths in a decade. There were 549 overdose deaths in 2022, exceeding the previous peak of 543 overdose deaths recorded in 2018. Heroin deaths have also increased with 230 deaths in 2022, compared to 173 in 2021 and 187 in 2020.
The ACIC report was compiled as part of law enforcement efforts to target drug supply and demand and reduce harm.
The acting chief executive of the ACIC, Matt Rippon, said wastewater data underlined the pervasive and ongoing threat posed by organised crime groups in Australia to gain large profits at the expense of the community.
“Drug consumption estimates derived from wastewater data – when used in combination with other data such as seizure, arrest, price, purity, health and availability data – provide the most comprehensive, empirically based insights into Australian drug markets,” he said.
“In turn, these data reveal drug market resilience, but also points of vulnerability that present opportunities to inform harm reduction strategies that improve the safety of the Australian community.”
Excluding nicotine and alcohol, the data showed cannabis was the most consumed drug by a large margin.
Cannabis use has increased in capital cities but decreased in regional areas.
In the latest reporting period, MDMA consumption continued an ongoing trend of a decline in consumption since December 2019.
Heroin consumption decreased in capital city and regional areas to a level that was the fourth-lowest since the wastewater program began in 2017.
Oxycodone consumption increased in both capital city and regional areas, while fentanyl consumption decreased in both.
The data was collected in all states and territories, covering more than half of the population.
