Queensland

In 2020–21, 182 publicly funded alcohol and other drug treatment agencies in Queensland provided over 50,600 treatment episodes to around 36,000 clients (tables Agcy.1, SCR.21).

Queensland reported:

  • a 9.0% increase in treatment episodes from 46,454 in 2019–20 to 50,633 in 2020–21, and a 100% increase in treatment episodes since 2011–12 (25,284) (Table QLD.2)
  • more clients are using AOD services in 2020–21 than 2013–14, after adjusting for population growth (793 clients per 100,000 population compared with 714 per 100,000, respectively)  
  • client numbers increased from 28,960 in 2013–14 to 36,016 in 2020–21 (Table SCR.21).

The visualisation shows that 50,633 treatment episodes were provided to 36,016 clients in Queensland in 2020–21. This equates to a rate of 1,114 episodes and 793 clients per 100,000 population, which is higher than the national rate (1,079 episodes and 618 clients per 100,000 population).

In 2020–21, most (87%) clients in Queensland attended 1 agency, and received an average of 1.4 treatment episodes, which is lower than the national average of 1.7 treatment episodes (tables SCR.21, SCR.23). In 2020–21, most (87%) clients in Queensland attended 1 agency, and received an average of 1.4 treatment episodes, which is lower than the national average of 1.7 treatment episodes (tables SCR.21, SCR.23).

Client demographics

In 2020–21:

  • nearly all (97%) clients in Queensland received treatment for their own alcohol or drug use, of which over 6 in 10 (63%) people were male (Figure QLD1)
  • over 7 in 10 people seeking treatment for someone else’s alcohol or drug use were more likely to be female (72%)
  • one in 2 (50%) people were aged 20–39 years, and 14% were aged 10–19 years which is higher than the national proportion (11%)   
  • about 1 in 6 (17%) of all clients identified as Indigenous Australians, which is consistent with the national proportion (17%)
  • the majority (89%) of all clients were born in Australia and nearly all (99%) reported English as their preferred language (tables SC QLD.1–3, SC.3–4, SC QLD.21–22).

The grouped horizontal bar chart shows that, in 2020–21, alcohol was the most common principal drug of concern in treatment episodes provided to clients in Queensland for their own drug use (35.9%). This was followed by cannabis (28.8%) and amphetamines (23.3%). Cannabis was the most common additional drug of concern (11.4% of episodes), followed by alcohol (9.5%) and nicotine (9.0%).

Patterns of service use

Over the period 2016–17 to 2020–21, 131,546 clients received treatment in Queensland. Of these clients:

  • the majority received treatment in a single year (78%):
    • 17% (22,918) received treatment for the first time in 2020–21
    • a further 60% (79,521) received treatment in only one of the four collection periods (excluding 2020–21)
  • 15% (20,111) of clients received treatment in any 2 of the 5 years
  • 4.8% (6,308) of clients received treatment in any 3 of the 5 years
  • 1.6% (2,112) of clients received treatment in any 4 of the 5 years
  • 0.4% (576) of clients received treatment in all 5 collection years (Table SCR.28).

Drugs of concern

In 2020–21, for clients in Queensland receiving treatment episodes for their own alcohol or drug use:

  • alcohol was the most common principal drug of concern (36% or 17,742 episodes) (Figure QLD2; Table ST QLD.6)
  • cannabis was the second most common principal drug of concern (29% or 14,237 episodes), followed by amphetamines (23% or 11,525). In Queensland, the level of cannabis reported as the principal drug of concern is a result of the police and illicit drug court diversion programs operating in the state (Table SE QLD.12).

The grouped horizontal bar chart shows that, in 2019–20, alcohol was the most common principal drug of concern in treatment episodes provided to clients in Queensland for their own drug use (34%). This was followed by cannabis and amphetamines (both 27%), and heroin (1.9%). Cannabis was the most common additional drug of concern (19%), followed by nicotine (16%) and alcohol (15%).

In 2020–21, for clients receiving treatment for their own use of amphetamines:

  • methamphetamine was reported as a principal drug of concern in over 4 in 5 (87%) treatment episodes (Figure QLD3a)
  • almost half (48%) of treatment episodes where methamphetamine was the principal drug of concern, injecting was the most common method of use, followed by smoking (41%) (Figure QLD3b).

Queensland is working with service providers to encourage more specific reporting of amphetamine use (i.e. to reduce the use of ‘amphetamines not further defined’ code where possible).   

The line graph shows that, from 2011–12 to 2014–15, ‘amphetamines not further defined’ was the most common drug of concern among amphetamine-related treatment episodes for clients’ own drug use. In 2015–16, methamphetamine became the most common drug of concern. The proportion of episodes for amphetamines not further defined decreased from 2014–15 (46.2% of amphetamine-related episodes) to 2020–21 (6.2%), while episodes increased for methamphetamines (from 43.7% to 87.1%).

The stacked horizontal bar chart shows the method of use for treatment episodes related to clients’ own use of methamphetamine, amphetamine, amphetamines not further defined, and other amphetamines in Queensland in 2020–21. Injecting was the most common method of use for amphetamine, methamphetamine and amphetamines not further defined (ranging from 42.4% to 47.9% of episodes), while smoking was the most common method of use for other amphetamines (49.9% of episodes).

Clients can nominate up to 5 additional drugs of concern; these drugs are not necessarily the subject of any treatment within the episode (see technical notes).

 When the client reported additional drugs of concern:

  • cannabis was the most common additional drug (11% of episodes), followed by alcohol (9.5%) and nicotine (9.0%) (Table ST QLD.7).

Over the period 2011–12 to 2020–21:

  • alcohol was the most common principal drug of concern from 2011–12 to 2013–14, and in 2018–19 alcohol replaced cannabis as the most common principal drug of concern (Table ST QLD.7)
  • the proportion of episodes for alcohol as a principal drug of concern, fell from 43% in 2011–12 to 36% in 2020–21, relative to all other principal drugs of concern. However, the actual number of treatment episodes increased over this period from 10,519 episodes to 17,742
  • cannabis was the second most common principal drugs of concern, with treatment episodes increasing from 29% in 2011–12, peaking at 39% in 2015–16 and falling to 29% in 2020–21. From 2011–12 treatment episodes increased from 7,243 to 14,237 over this period
  • the proportion of episodes for amphetamines as a principal drug of concern doubled since 2011–12 (11% to 23%), with the number of treatment episodes increasing from 2,674 to 11,525 over this period
    • within the amphetamines group, methamphetamine was reported as the principal drug of concern in 16% of episodes in 2011–12, rising to 65% in 2015–16, then 87% in 2020–21 (Figure QLD3a). The rise in episodes where methamphetamines were the principal drug of concern may be related to increases in funded treatment services and improvements in agency coding practices for methamphetamines
  • the proportion of treatment episodes in Queensland where cannabis was the principal drug of concern was higher than the national proportion in 2020–21 (29% compared with 19%) (Table Drg.1). This trend has been consistent for the 10-year period.

Treatment

In 2020­–21, Queensland Health transitioned to an integrated public AOD and mental health system for reporting. Due to the use of this integrated system, there was an improvement in the capability to report assessment only as a main treatment type. This resulted in increases in treatment episodes with assessment only as a main treatment type and is considered as a more accurate representation of the treatment being provided by the sector.

Prior to 2020–21, treatment episodes provided to people diverted into AOD services by police and court diversion programs were recorded as information and education. This resulted in a high proportion of information and education treatment episodes in Queensland. From 2020–21, the police and court diversion programs are now reported as counselling which is a more accurate representation of the treatment being provided. See Data Quality Statement for further information.  

In 2020–21, for treatment episodes in Queensland:

  • counselling was the most common main treatment (46% of episodes), followed by assessment only (26%) (Figure QLD4)
  • the proportion of episodes for information and education as a main treatment dropped 15 percentage points from 2019–20 (21%) to 6% in 2020–21, due to a review of coding practices and are now coded as counselling (Table ST QLD.13)
  • where an additional treatment was provided as supplementary to the main treatment, information and education (6%) was also the most common type of additional treatment, followed by counselling (4%). See technical notes for further information on calculating proportions for additional treatment type.

Over the period 2011–12 to 2020–21:

  • the proportion of all treatment episodes where counselling was the main treatment type increased from 2011–12 (35%) to 46% in 2020–21. Counselling replaced information and education as the most common treatment since 2016–17
  • the proportion of withdrawal management as a main treatment type decreased in 2020–21, dropping from 11% in 2011–12 down to 5%. 

The grouped horizontal bar chart shows that, in 2020–21, the most common main treatment type provided to clients in Queensland for their own drug use was counselling (46.1% of episodes). This was followed by assessment only (26.2%) and support and case management (8.0%). Information and education was the most common additional treatment type (5.6%), followed by counselling (3.8%).

Agencies

In 2020–21, in Queensland:

  • more than 7 in 10 (71%) AOD agencies that received public funding were non-government treatment agencies
  • almost half (47%) of the 182 treatment agencies were located in Major cities, followed by Outer regional (23%) and Inner regional (20%) areas
  • around 10% of all government treatment agencies were located in Remote and Very remote areas (Figure QLD5; Table Agcy.3).

In the 10 years to 2020–21, the number of publicly funded treatment agencies in Queensland steadily increased from 97 in 2011–12 to 194 in 2019–20, falling to 182 in 2020–21. The recent change in agency numbers is attributed to a review of the agency coding structure in the public sector.  As a result, there have been significant agency identifier changes which have been constructed to align with the Queensland Health Corporate Reference Database System, providing a more accurate representation of number of agencies reporting at the service outlet level (Table Agcy.1).

The horizontal bar chart shows that most treatment agencies in Queensland were located in Major cities (85 agencies), followed by Outer regional areas (41 agencies) and Inner regional areas (37 agencies) in 2020–21. Relatively fewer agencies were located in Remote and Very remote areas (18 agencies). Of the total 182 treatment agencies, most (130 agencies) were non-government agencies.