Tasmania

In 2020–21, 24 publicly funded alcohol and other drug treatment agencies in Tasmania provided around 3,900 treatment episodes to just under 2,800 clients (tables Agcy.1, SCR.21).

Tasmania reported:

  • a 3.9% increase in treatment episodes from 3,715 in 2019–20 to 3,859 in 2020–21, and a 131% increase in treatment episodes since 2011–12 (1,672) (Table ST TAS.2)
  • more clients are using AOD services in 2020–21 than 2013–14, after adjusting for population growth (580 clients per 100,000 population compared with 540 per 100,000, respectively)
  • client numbers increased from 2,432 in 2013–14 to 2,786 in 2020–21 (Table SCR.21).

The visualisation shows that 3,859 treatment episodes were provided to 2,786 clients in Tasmania in 2020–21. This equates to a rate of 803 episodes and 580 clients per 100,000 population, lower than the national rate (1,079 episodes and 618 clients per 100,000 population).

In 2020–21, most (83%) clients in Tasmania attended 1 agency, and received an average of 1.4 treatment episodes, which is lower than national average of 1.7 treatment episodes (tables SCR.21, SCR.23).

Client demographics

In 2020–21:

  • most (93%) clients in Tasmania received treatment for their own alcohol or drug use, of which, over 3 in 5 (63%) people were male (Figure TAS1)
  • people seeking treatment for someone else’s alcohol or drug use were most likely to be female (72%)
  • over half (52%) of all clients were aged 20–39 years
  • around 1 in 8 (12%) of all clients identified as Indigenous Australians, which is lower than the national proportion (17%)  
  • the majority (94%) of all clients were born in Australia and nearly all (96%) reported English as their preferred language (tables SC Tas.1–3, SC.4, SC TAS.21–22).

The visualisation includes a series of horizontal bar graphs showing that, in 2019–20, over 9 in 10 (93%) clients in Tasmania received treatment for their own drug use. Of these clients, two-thirds (66%) were male, 54% were aged 20–39, and 12% were Indigenous Australians. Nearly all clients (96%) listed English as their preferred language and were born in Australia (95%).

Patterns of service use

Over the period 2016–17 to 2020–21, 9,716 clients received treatment in Tasmania. Of these clients:

  • the majority received treatment in a single year (74%):
    • 17% (1,611) received treatment for the first time in 2020–21
    • a further 57% (5,573) received treatment in only one of the four collection periods (excluding 2020–21)
  • 17% (1,662) of clients received treatment in any 2 of the 5 years
  • 6.0% (581) of clients received treatment in any 3 of the 5 years
  • 2.4% (232) of clients received treatment in any 4 of the 5 years
  • 0.6% (57) of clients received treatment in all 5 collection years (Table SCR.28).

Drugs of concern

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

  • alcohol was the most common principal drug of concern (45% or 1,626 episodes) (Figure TAS2; Table ST TAS.7).
  • amphetamines as a principal drug of concern accounted for 1 in 4 treatment episodes (25% or 903 episodes)

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 Tasmania for their own drug use (44.8%). This was followed by amphetamines (24.9%) and cannabis (17.5%). Cannabis was the most common additional drug of concern (16.9% of episodes), followed by amphetamines (9.1%) and alcohol (8.3%).

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

  • methamphetamine was reported as a principal drug of concern in over 8 in 10 (84%) treatment episodes (Figure TAS3a)
  • in over half (53%) of treatment episodes where methamphetamine was a principal drug of concern, injecting was the most common method of use, followed by smoking (35%) (Figure TAS3b).

The line graph shows that, from 2011–12 to 2013–14, amphetamine was the most common drug of concern among amphetamine-related treatment episodes for clients’ own drug use. In 2014–15, methamphetamine became the most common drug of concern. The proportion of episodes for methamphetamine increased from 12.3% in 2011–12 to 83.7% in 2020–21, while episodes for amphetamine decreased from 86.4% to 5.9% 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 Tasmania in 2020–21. Injecting was the most common method of use across all amphetamine types (ranging from 47.9% to 52.8% 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:

  • cannabis was the most common additional drug of concern (17% of episodes), followed by amphetamines (9%), alcohol and nicotine (both 8%) (Table ST TAS.7).

Over the period 2011–12 to 2020–21:

  • treatment episodes were the most common for alcohol as a principal drug of concern, fluctuating from 40% in 2011–12 (619 episodes) to 38% (1,226) in 2016–17 up to 45% (1,626) in 2020–21, relative to all other principal drugs of concern (Table SE TAS.10)
  • treatment episodes for amphetamines increased from 10% (154 episodes) to 25% (903) over the period
  • treatment episodes for cannabis decreased from 35% (540) to 17% (633). While the number of treatment episodes increased, the proportion decreased in relation to all principal drugs of concern
  • within the amphetamines group, methamphetamine was reported as the principal drug of concern in 12% of episodes in 2011–12, rising to 55% in 2014–15 and continuing to rise to 93% in 2019–20, falling to 84% in 2020–21 (Figure TAS3a). The rise in episodes may be related to increases in funded treatment services and/or improvement in agency coding practices for methamphetamines.

Treatment

In 2020–21, for treatment episodes in Tasmania:

  • counselling was the most common main treatment (49% of episodes), followed by rehabilitation (21%) (Figure TAS4; Table ST TAS.13)
  • where an additional treatment was provided as a supplementary to the main treatment, counselling (7%) was the most common type of additional treatment, followed by support and case management (4%) and rehabilitation (2%). See technical notes for further information on calculating proportions for additional treatment type.

Over the period 2011–12 to 2020–21:

  • counselling remained the most common main treatment, with the proportion of episodes falling from 62% in 2011–12 to 49% in 2020–21
  • rehabilitation increased from 2011–12 (8%) peaking in 2016–17 (24%) before decreasing in 2019–20 (20%) and 2020–21 (21%); the proportion of episodes for rehabilitation is higher than the national proportion over this period (Table ST TAS.13).

The grouped horizontal bar chart shows that, in 2020–21, the most common main treatment type provided to clients in Tasmania for their own drug use was counselling (48.8% of episodes). This was followed by rehabilitation (21.5%) and assessment only (15.4%). Counselling was the most common additional treatment type (7.2% of episodes), followed by support and case management (4.2%).

Agencies

Tasmania only has the geographical classifications of Inner regional, Outer regional and Remote areas.

In 2020–21, in Tasmania:

  • three-quarters (75%) of the 24 AOD agencies that received public funding were non-government treatment agencies
  • 58% of agencies were located in Inner regional areas, followed by Outer regional (42%) (Figure TAS5; Table Agcy.3)
  • agencies located in Inner regional and Outer regional areas were more likely to be non-government organisations.

In the 10 years to 2020–21, the number of publicly funded treatment agencies in Tasmania rose from 16 in 2011–12 to 24 in 2020–21 (Table Agcy.1).

Note that remoteness categories are derived by applying a correspondence based on the agency’s Statistical Area level 2 code (SA2). Not all SA2 codes fit neatly within a single remoteness category, and a ratio is applied to reapportion each SA2 to the applicable remoteness categories. As a result, it is possible that the number of agencies in a particular remoteness category is not a whole number. After rounding, this can result in there being ‘<0.5%’ agencies in a remoteness area, due to the agency’s SA2 partially crossing into the remoteness area. See technical notes for further details.

The horizontal bar chart shows that most treatment agencies in Tasmania were located in Inner regional areas (14 agencies), followed by Outer regional areas (10 agencies) in 2020–21. Of the total 24 treatment agencies, most (18 agencies) were non-government agencies.