Summary

In New South Wales in 2009–10, 258 government-funded alcohol and other drug treatment agencies and outlets provided 35,202 treatment episodes. This was an increase of eight treatment agencies and 309 episodes since 2008–09.

The median1 ages of persons receiving treatment for their own drug use (35) and those seeking assistance in relation to someone else’s drug use (47) were similar to 2008–09.

Alcohol was the most common principal drug of concern, rising from 51% of episodes in 2008–09 to 54% in 2009–10. Cannabis accounted for 18% and heroin for 10% of episodes. The proportion of amphetamine-related episodes fell slightly from 9% to 7%.

The episode profile of main treatment type was similar to that observed in 2008–09, with some small changes in proportions. Counselling was the most common form of main treatment provided (34% of episodes), followed by withdrawal management (20%) and assessment only (16%).

  1. The median is the midpoint of a list of observations ranked from the smallest to the largest.

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