Drug use in Victoria

Apart from cannabis, only a small minority of Australian people use illicit drugs and the majority of these do so for a relatively short period of their life. However, substantial harms are related to the misuse of illicit drugs. These include overdose-related death, involvement in crime, community and family distress, and the transmission of HIV/AIDS and other blood-borne diseases (notably, hepatitis C).

While the absolute number of people dying from illicit drugs is not high compared to death related to the use of alcohol and tobacco, the burden of harm is much more substantial if one considers the years of life lost.

There are a number of surveys available that provide information relating to the prevalence of drug use and the characteristics of individuals who use drugs in Victoria and Australia-wide.

Victorian School Students Survey
Selected statistics collated in the Victorian Secondary School Students and Drug Use Survey 2002 include:

Cannabis (year 7 to 12 students)

• Cannabis was the most commonly used illicit substance among secondary school students.
• 3% of year 7 students use cannabis weekly, compared with 11% of year 12 students.

• At least 20% of secondary school students in years 7 to 10 had deliberately sniffed inhalants at least once in their life.
• 13% of year 7 students compared with 2% of year 12 students had used inhalants in the month before the survey.

• 33% of the people in the 2004 survey indicated they had ever used cannabis compared with 39% in the 1998 survey.
• 11.3% of the population indicated they had used cannabis in the previous 12 months in the 2001 survey compared with 17.9% in the 1998 survey.
• The rate of cannabis use (in the previous 12 months) is higher among males (14.4%) than females (8.3%).
• Cannabis use is highest among people aged 20 to 29 years.

• 15.3% of the population reported using at least one illicit drug for non-medical purposes (in the previous 12 months) in the 2004 survey compared with 22% in 1998.
• Almost two in every five Australians had used an illicit drug at some time and one in six had used illicit drugs in the previous year.
• 0.3% used heroin (in the last 12 months) according to the 2004 survey compared with 0.8% in 1998.
• Heroin has been used by 2.3% of the population aged 14 years and over.
• Amphetamine use (in the last year) had decreased slightly from 3.7% in the 1998 survey to 3.2% in 2004.
• 10.7% of people aged 20 to 29 years had used amphetamines in the last 12 months.
• The only illicit drugs that increased in use from the 1998 survey to the 2004 survey (use in the last 12 months) were ecstasy and other designer drugs, which increased from 2.4% in 1998 to 3.4% in 2004.

• The price of heroin per gram in 1997 was $450. This decreased to $300 in 2000 and increased to $450 per gram in 2001. It 2004 it had decreased to $300.
• The mean purity level of heroin seizures increased from 35% in 1996–97 to 62% in 1997–98, then decreased to 46% in 2001. In 2004 the median purity level was 25.7%.
• The proportion of injecting drug users who described heroin as ‘very easy’ to obtain dropped markedly from 86% in 2000 to 36% in 2001. In 2004 this had risen to 60%.
• The proportion of injecting drug users who reported daily use of heroin dropped from 47% in 2000 to 13% in 2001. In 2004 the proportion was 25%.
• The price of methamphetamine powder was consistently $50 per gram until a dramatic price increase in 2001 to $200 per gram. In 2004 the price was $180 per gram.

• 1997 – 166
• 1998 – 268
• 1999 – 359
• 2000 – 331
• 2001 – 50
• 2002 – 78
• 2003 – 117
• 2004 – 120

• Your doctor
• DirectLine Tel. 1800 888 236
• DrugInfo Clearinghouse Tel. 1300 858 584 www.druginfo.adf.org.au
• Victorian Drug User Organisation (VIVAIDS) Tel. (03) 9419 3633

• There have been a number of surveys that provide information about the prevalence of drug use in the Victorian community.
• Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection among injecting drug users in Victoria is of major concern.

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