To demonstrate the failure of the war on drugs, NSW Greens MP Cate Faehrmann came out this week about about her own drug use:
"Since my 20s, I’ve occasionally taken MDMA [ecstasy] at dance parties and music festivals. I know journalists, tradies, lawyers, public servants, doctors, police and yes, politicians (most well into their forties), who have done the same."
When asked by journalists on Monday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he’d never taken illicit drugs, while Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said he using cannabis while at university.
But what about the rest of Australia?
Nearly half have tried drugs
Some aged 14 years or over have used an illicit drug at least once in their lifetime.
Nearly 16 per cent have used an illicit drug at least once in the last year; around 75 per cent of those use infrequently, between once and 11 times a year.
By far the majority of both lifetime and recent use is of cannabis (around 35 per cent lifetime use), with other drugs such as ecstasy (MDMA) (around 11 per cent), hallucinogens (around 9.5 per cent) and cocaine (around 9 per cent) much less commonly tried. Methamphetamine (including “ice”) is the fifth most commonly used drug at around 6 per cent lifetime use.
Source: AIHW
Age and gender
The highest rate of lifetime use is among 30-39 year olds (around 55 per cent), closely followed by 40-49 year olds (just under 55 per cent), then 20-29 year olds (49 per cent) and 50-59 year olds (48 per cent).
But recent use (in the past year) is concentrated among 20-29 year olds (28 per cent), dropping off after 30 to 18 per cent.
Only 7 per cent of people over 60 and 12 per cent of people over 50 say they have used an illicit drug in the last year.
Most people who try drugs typically do so for a short period in their lives (mostly in their 20s). There is natural attrition over time, probably as people gain more responsibilities, at work and home, which are incompatible with drug use.
Recent illicit drug use among teens has been in decline over the last eight to ten years, and has remained stable among people in their 20s.
In all age groups, men tend to have a higher rate of both lifetime and recent use than women.
Source: AIHW
Education and occupation
People who have post-school qualifications (such as university and TAFE) have a higher rate of lifetime drug use (47 per cent) than those with no post-school qualifications (34 per cent).
The rate of lifetime cannabis use among people who have post-school qualifications is around 40 per cent, compared to 26 per cent of people with no post-school qualifications.
People in the paid workforce have a higher rate of lifetime drug use (51 per cent) than unemployed people (43 per cent). About 45 per cent of people in paid employment say they have used cannabis in their lifetime, compared to 39 per cent of unemployed people. For ecstasy it’s 15 per cent and 12 per cent respectively.
Illicit drug use is reasonably equally distributed across socioeconomic groups, but the most advantaged tend to have a higher lifetime use (44 per cent compared to 39 per cent) and the more socially disadvantaged have a slightly higher rate of recent use (16 per cent compared to 14 per cent).
Source: AIHW
This suggests those who are more advantaged are more likely to try drugs but less likely to continue to use them.
There are no recent published analyses of which occupational groups tend to have higher rates of lifetime use. The was from 2004 data and only looked at use in the last 12 months. That data showed workers in hospitality (32 per cent), construction (24 per cent) and retail (20 per cent) had the highest rate of recent use.
Disclosure statement: Nicole Lee works as a paid consultant in the alcohol and other drug sector. She has previously been awarded grants by state and federal governments, NHMRC and other public funding bodies for alcohol and other drug research.
