Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people more likely to seek help for alcohol and drug abuse, study finds

The number of Australians getting drug and alcohol treatment is slowly rising with a sharp jump in the number of people seeking treatment for drugs like ice.

The latest Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report, released on Friday, said people were getting treated for alcohol abuse more than any other drug.

The latest Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report, released on Friday, said people were getting treated for alcohol abuse more than any other drug. Source: AAP

There has been a nearly-six-fold increase in the number of Australians getting treatment for drugs such as ice or speed in the past decade.

More Australians have been seeking help for drug and alcohol abuse since 2014/15.

The latest Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report, released on Friday, found one in six people seeking treatment identified as Indigenous, with Aboriginal people more likely to seek treatment than non-Indigenous Australians.

The report also said people were getting treated for alcohol abuse more than any other drug.

But the number of people seeking help specifically for alcohol abuse had slowly dropped over the past decade.

Treatment for the amphetamines group of drugs increased from 10,000 episodes to 58,200 episodes over the 10 years to 2018/19.

Among those cases, methamphetamines, like ice, made up two-thirds of treatment in 2018/19.
Among those cases, methamphetamines, like ice, made up two-thirds of treatment in 2018/19.
Among those cases, methamphetamines, like ice, made up two-thirds of treatment in 2018/19. Source: ACC
About 137,000 Australians aged 10 and over sought treatment for their drug or alcohol issues in 2018/19.

This marked a 19 per cent increase in clients since 2014/15.

More than half of people seeking drug and alcohol treatment were between 20 to 39 years old.

Australians aged 40 and over made up 35 per cent of treatment cases.

Younger Australians were more likely to be the ones seeking treatment for cannabis use.

Nearly two-thirds of cannabis treatment clients were aged between 10 to 19 years old.
Counselling was the most common type of drug and alcohol treatment.

Heroin users were mostly older, with the number of people seeking treatment declining over the past 10 years.

Men received more treatment than women.


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Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people more likely to seek help for alcohol and drug abuse, study finds | SBS News