The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) today released the 15th report of its National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program (the Program).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An estimated 15.7 tonnes of methylamphetamine, cocaine, MDMA and heroin was consumed in 2020\u201321, the fifth year of the Program. Consumption of methylamphetamine is still dominant, well ahead of cocaine, the next biggest market of the four major drugs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ACIC Chief Executive Officer Michael Phelan APM said the estimated street value of the four major drugs was $10.3 billion last year, up from $8.9 billion the previous year, due largely to general increases in street prices. Methylamphetamine accounted for 77 per cent of this expenditure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe saw the second lowest annual consumption of the four major drugs since our national wastewater drug monitoring program began, yet the second highest spending by Australians over the same period. It is clear that Australians are prepared to pay top dollar to line the pockets of organised criminals, generating significant health and other harms to our community,\u201d Mr Phelan said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThrough wastewater analysis we gain insight into the serious and organised crime groups that supply illicit drug markets. Regular and near-real-time wastewater reporting enables the ACIC and our partners to detect and respond to increasing drug threats in a timely way and monitor the impact of responses.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Report 15 provides a 12 month and five-year overview of drug consumption in Australia which includes years where there have been COVID-19 restrictions in place. The national consumption of methylamphetamine, cocaine, MDMA and heroin increased year on year in the first four years of the Program (2016\u201317 to 2019\u201320), followed by a marked reduction in total consumption in year five (2020\u201321). The drop of approximately 4.7 tonnes from the previous year\u2019s levels, represents a 23 per cent decrease in overall drug consumption across these markets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A key driver of the national drug market reduction over the last year was COVID-19 movement and border restrictions, law enforcement interventions and supply and demand. COVID-related border restrictions did not cause immediate major interruption to Australia\u2019s drug markets, but wastewater data strongly indicates that the cumulative effect of these restrictions led to some substantial market interruptions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe restrictions put in place as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, severely constrained these markets. However, organised crime groups continued to find ways to supply illicit drug markets during the pandemic and to generate significant illicit revenue through this activity,\u201d Mr Phelan said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur report helps address harmful drug consumption through improving knowledge about these influences so that tailored supply, demand and harm reduction efforts can be developed and implemented by decision makers on a range of drug and public health issues.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The latest report presents data on Australia\u2019s drug consumption for 12 substances. The August 2021 collection covered around 57 per cent of Australia\u2019s population\u2014about 13.3 million Australians. Result of note include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00b7 Consumption of methylamphetamine in capital cities and regional sites decreased in August 2021 to the lowest levels recorded by the Program, followed by an increase in capital cities in October 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00b7 Consumption of MDMA in capital cities decreased in August 2021 to the lowest levels recorded by the Program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00b7 Consumption of cocaine also decreased in August 2021, after which it increased in capital cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00b7 Consumption of oxycodone and fentanyl appears to have stabilised, but at low levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00b7 Consumption of heroin increased from April to August 2021, before decreasing in capital cities in October 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00b7 Consumption of cannabis in August 2021 in capital cities and regional areas was the highest recorded by the Program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Program\u2019s data continues to demonstrate the challenges facing different cities and towns and highlights the unique characteristics of local drug markets, forming a meaningful part of bespoke solutions for each region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are improving our understanding of external factors that affect consumption of drugs and the resilience of the respective drug markets,\u201d Mr Phelan said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The report is available from the ACIC website: www.acic.gov.au<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Note to editors<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In accordance with current wastewater analysis conventions, the terms of the contract, and to protect the integrity of the Program, the exact sampling locations cannot be publicly released by the ACIC. To maintain the confidentiality of the participating site, each site was allocated a unique code to de-identify their results, however trends in particular states and territories can be identified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Media are encouraged to include help-seeking information in stories about illicit drugs to minimise any negative impact on people in the community. The following services provide people with access to support and information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00b7 For free and confidential advice about alcohol and other drug treatment services call the National Alcohol and Other Drug Hotline on 1800 250 015.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00b7 Access free 24\/7 drug and alcohol counselling online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00b7 For information about drug and alcohol addiction treatment or support, go to the Turning Point website.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) today released the 15th report of its National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program (the Program). An estimated 15.7 tonnes of methylamphetamine, cocaine, MDMA and heroin was consumed in 2020\u201321, the fifth year of the Program. Consumption of methylamphetamine is still dominant, well ahead of cocaine, the next biggest market of … Continue reading “Australians spending $10.3bn a year on illicit drugs according to ACIC\u2019s latest wastewater report”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aussie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15465"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15465\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15466,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15465\/revisions\/15466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}