Patterns of service use
Over the period 2015–16 to 2019–20, 29,937 clients received treatment in South Australia. Of these clients:
- the majority of clients received treatment in a single year (75%):
- 14% (4,299) received treatment for the first time in 2019–20
- a further 61% (18,386) received treatment in only one of the four collection periods (excluding 2019–20)
- 17% (5,201) of clients received treatment in any 2 of the 5 years
- 5.0% (1,500) of clients received treatment in any 3 of the 5 years
- 1.4% (434) of clients received treatment in any 4 of the 5 years
- 0.4% (117) of clients received treatment in all 5 collection years (Table SCR.28).
In 2019–20, for clients in South Australia receiving treatment episodes for their own alcohol or drug use:
- amphetamines were the most common principal drug of concern for clients (35% of episodes) (Figure 18; Tables SE SA.10); (Figure 18b)
- within the amphetamines group:
- methamphetamine was reported as a principal drug of concern in approximately 79% of treatment episodes (Figure 18a)
- in 62% of treatment episodes where methamphetamine was the principal drug of concern smoking was the most common method of use, followed by injecting (31%) (Figure 18b)
- alcohol accounted for nearly one-third of treatment episodes (32%), followed by cannabis (15%), and nicotine (7%).
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).
In 2019–20, when the client reported additional drugs of concern:
- nicotine was the most common (27% of episodes), followed by cannabis (21%), alcohol and amphetamines (both 12%) (Table SE SA.11).
Over the period 2015–16 to 2019–20:
- amphetamines replaced alcohol as the most common principal drug of concern for clients in 2015–16 and has fluctuated between 35–37% of episodes over this period.
- Alcohol has increased from 29% of episodes in 2015–16 to 32% in 2019–20 (Table SE SA.10).
- within the amphetamines group, methamphetamine was reported as the principal drug of concern in half (50%) of closed treatment episodes for own drug use in 2015–16, rising to 79% in 2019–20 (Figure 18a). The rise in episodes may be related to increases in funded treatment services and/or improvement in agency coding practices for methamphetamines.
The proportion of treatment episodes for amphetamines as a principal drug of concern has been consistently higher in South Australia than the national proportion. This is related to a state Government legislated program regarding assessments provided under a Police Drug Diversion initiative. The program results in comparatively high proportions of engagement with methamphetamine users. In addition, due to the Cannabis Expiation Notice legislation in South Australia, adult simple cannabis offences are not diverted to treatment and so are not included in the data (see the Data Quality Statement).