Patterns of service use
Over the period 2015–16 to 2019–20, 12,322 clients received treatment in the Northern Territory. Of these clients:
- the majority received treatment in a single year (69%):
- 16% (1,980) received treatment for the first time in 2019–20
- a further 53% (6,592) received treatment in only one of the four collection periods (excluding 2019–20)
- 21% (2,584) of clients received treatment in any 2 of the 5 years
- 6.4% (790) of clients received treatment in any 3 of the 5 years
- 2.3% (285) of clients received treatment in any 4 of the 5 years
- 0.7% (91) of clients received treatment in all 5 collection years (Table SCR.28).
In 2019–20, for clients in the Northern Territory receiving treatment episodes for their own alcohol or drug use:
- alcohol was the most common principal drug of concern for clients (66% of episodes) (Figure 30; Tables SE NT.10)
- cannabis and amphetamines were the second most common principal drugs (both 13%), followed by volatile solvents (5%), which is much higher than the national proportion (less than 1%) (Table SD.2)
- within the amphetamines group:
- methamphetamine was reported as a principal drug of concern in around 4 in 5 (81%) treatment episodes (Figure 30a)
- in half (50%) of treatment episodes where methamphetamine was a principal drug of concern smoking was the most common method of use, followed by injecting (44%) (Figure 30b).
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:
- cannabis was the most common additional drug (19% of episodes), followed by nicotine (14%) and alcohol (11%) (Table SE NT.11).
Over the period 2015–16 to 2019–20:
- alcohol remained the most common principal drug of concern ranging from 48% to 66% over the period. The proportion of episodes for alcohol remains consistently higher than the national proportion (for example, 66% compared with 34% nationally in 2019–20) (Table SD.2).
- amphetamines and cannabis both decreased over this time period (14% to 13% and 19% to 13%, respectively).
- within the amphetamines group, methamphetamine was reported as the principal drug of concern in almost 2 in 3 episodes (65%) in 2015–16, rising to 85% in 2017–18 and declining to 81% in 2019–20 (Figure 30a). The rise in methamphetamine episodes maybe related to changes in the illicit drug market and/or changes in service provider practices.
- the proportion of closed episodes for volatile solvents as a principal drug of concern decreased from 12% in 2015–16 to 5% in 2019–20.