South Australia

In 2020–21, 84 publicly funded alcohol and other drug treatment agencies in South Australia provided around 10,400 treatment episodes to just under 7,400 clients (tables Agcy.1, SCR.21).

South Australia reported:

  • a 37% increase in treatment episodes from 2011–12 (8,711 episodes) to 2018–19 (11,934), then decreasing by 19% in 2019–20 (9,690), rising to 10,372 in 2020–21 (Table ST SA.1)
  • fewer clients are using AOD services in 2020–21 than 2013–14, after adjusting for population growth (469 clients per 100,000 population compared with 624 per 100,000, respectively)
  • client numbers decreased from 9,215 in 2013–14 to 7,352 in 2020–21 (Table SCR.21).

The visualisation shows that 10,372 treatment episodes were provided to 7,352 clients in South Australia in 2020–21. This equates to a rate of 662 episodes and 469 clients per 100,000 population, lower than the national rate (1,079 episodes and 618 clients per 100,000 population).

In 2020–21, most (87%) clients in South Australia 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 (99%) clients in South Australia received treatment for their
    own alcohol or drug use, of which, over 3 in 5 (62%) people were male (Figure SA1)
  • people seeking treatment for someone else’s alcohol or drug use were mostly female (90%)
  • over half (54%) of all people were aged 30–49 years
  • over 1 in 6 (16%) people identified as Indigenous Australians, which is lower than the national proportion (17%)
  • the majority (91%) of clients were born in Australia and nearly all (98%) reported English as their preferred language (tables SC SA.1–3, SC.4, SC SA.21–22).

The visualisation includes a series of horizontal bar graphs showing that, in 2020–21, just under two-thirds (62%) of all clients were male, 52% were aged 20–39 and 16% were Indigenous Australians in South Australia. Nearly all clients (98%) listed English as their preferred language and most (91%) were born in Australia.

Patterns of service use

Over the period 2016–17 to 2020–21, 29,593 clients received treatment in South Australia. Of these clients:

  • the majority of clients received treatment in a single year (76%):
    • 15% (4,547) received treatment for the first time in 2020–21
    • a further 61% (18,055) received treatment in only one of the four collection periods (excluding 2020–21)
  • 17% (5,043) of clients received treatment in any 2 of the 5 years
  • 4.8% (1,422) of clients received treatment in any 3 of the 5 years
  • 1.4% (413) of clients received treatment in any 4 of the 5 years
  • 0.4% (113) of clients received treatment in all 5 collection years (Table SCR.28).

Drugs of concern

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

  • alcohol was the most common principal drug of concern for clients (37% or 3,756 episodes) (Figure SA2)
  • amphetamines accounted for one-third of treatment episodes (33% or 3,411), followed by cannabis (15% or 1,586).

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 South Australia for their own drug use (36.6%). This was followed by amphetamines (33.2%) and cannabis (15.4%). Nicotine was the most common additional drug of concern (25.8% of episodes), followed by cannabis (20.7%) and alcohol (12.1%).

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

  • methamphetamine was reported as a principal drug of concern in approximately 71% of treatment episodes (Figure SA3a)
  • in 58% of treatment episodes where methamphetamine was the principal drug of concern, smoking was the most common method of use, followed by injecting (32%) (Figure SA3b).

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 methamphetamine increased from 2.8% in 2011–12 to 70.7% in 2020–21, while episodes for amphetamines not further defined decreased from 84.5% to 13.0% over the same period.

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 South Australia in 2020–21. Smoking was the most common method of use across all amphetamine types (ranging from 51.7% to 59.2% of episodes), while injecting was the second most common method of use (ranging from 23.3% to 34.9% 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).

In 2020–21, when the client reported additional drugs of concern:

  • nicotine was the most common (26% of episodes), followed by cannabis (21%) (Table ST SA.7).

Over the period 2011–12 to 2020–21:

  • alcohol replaced amphetamines as the most common principal drug of concern for clients in 2020–21 (37%). However, the proportion of alcohol as a principal drug of concern decreased from 50% (4,337) of episodes in 2011–12 to 27% (3,059) in 2016–17, rising to 37% (3,756) in 2020–21, relative to all other principal drugs of concern (Table ST SA.7)
  • amphetamines as a principal drug of concern have increased over this period from 16% in 2011–12 and have fluctuated between 34–37% of episodes from 2016–17. Amphetamine treatment episodes increased over this period from 1,414 in 2011–12, peaking at 4,288 in 2018–19, falling to 3,411 in 2020–21
    •  for episodes where amphetamines was the principal drug of concern, methamphetamine was reported in 2.0% of treatment episodes in 2011–12 rising to 18% in 2014–15, then 50% in the next year, increasing to 79% in 2019–20 and falling to 71% in 2020–21 (Figure SA3a). 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 (33% and 24% respectively). 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).

Treatment

In 2020–21, for treatment episodes in South Australia:

  • counselling was the most common main treatment (37% of episodes), followed by assessment only (26%) and withdrawal management (17%) (Figure SA4; Table ST SA.13)
  • where an additional treatment was provided as a supplementary to the main treatment, support and case management (14%) was the most common additional treatment, followed by counselling (8%). See technical notes for further information on calculating proportions for additional treatment type.

Over the period 2011–12 to 2020–21:

  • counselling as a main treatment fluctuated from 28% in 2011–12, to 21% in 2017–18 rising to 37% in 2020–21
  • withdrawal management fell from 22% in 2011–12 to 17% in 2020–21 and rehabilitation also fell from 12% to 2% over the same period
  • the proportion of episodes where assessment only was the main treatment (fluctuating from 44% in 2013–14 to 32% in 2019–20 then falling to 26% in 2020–21) remained considerably higher than the national proportion (ranging from 14% to 20%) (Tables ST SA.13, Trt.4).

South Australia reported a high proportion of treatment episodes where assessment only is the most common treatment type, relating in part to the SA Police Drug Diversion Initiative (PDDI).

The grouped horizontal bar chart shows that, in 2020–21, the most common main treatment type provided to clients in South Australia for their own drug use was counselling (37.4% of episodes). This was followed by assessment only (25.6%) and withdrawal management (16.7%). Support and case management was the most common additional treatment type (13.9% of episodes), followed by counselling (8.3%).

Agencies

In 2020–21, in South Australia:

  • almost two-thirds (63%) of 84 AOD agencies that received public funding were non-government treatment agencies
  • under half (49%) of all treatment agencies were located in Major cities, followed by Outer regional areas (21%) and Inner regional areas (20%) (Figure SA5; Table Agcy.3)
  • In Very Remote areas 2 in 3 treatment agencies were Government organisations.

Over the 10 years to 2020–21, the number of publicly funded treatment agencies in South Australia increased from 56 to 84 (Table Agcy.1).

The horizontal bar chart shows that most treatment agencies in South Australia were located in Major cities (41 agencies), followed by Outer regional areas (18 agencies) and Inner regional (17 agencies) in 2020–21. Relatively fewer agencies were located in Remote (6 agencies) and Very remote areas (3 agencies). Of the total 84 treatment agencies, most (53 agencies) were non-government agencies.