The drug trends fuelling increased harm to Australians

SIX KEY EMERGING DRUG TRENDS IN AUSTRALIA AND GLOBALLY

* Increased availability and purity of many drugs

* Continued emergence of new psychoactive substances, synthetic drugs that aim to mimic existing substances like cocaine and MDMA but are often more potent

* Increased diversity of drug forms and routes of administration

* Increased polydrug use, including use of drugs often unknowingly mixed with or mis-sold as another drug

* Increased clusters of overdoses from higher potency or novel synthetic drugs

* Increased harms for populations that often experience marginalisation

USE, HARM AND TREATMENT

* Tobacco smoking is the leading cause of preventable, drug-related health burden in Australia, followed by alcohol use

* An estimated 10.2 million Australians over the age of 14 have illicitly used a drug, while an estimated 3.9 million did so in the past year

* The most widely used illicit drug in Australia, cannabis, caused an estimated 257 overdose deaths in NSW alone in 2022

* Alcohol caused twice as many overdose deaths and was the most common drug people received treatment for in 2022/23

* Almost one in three drug-induced deaths in 2022 were among people living in the most disadvantaged areas

VIEWS OF AUSTRALIAN PUBLIC

* People draw a sharp distinction between cannabis and the use of other illicit drugs

* One in six Aussies support low-level, non-medicinal cannabis possession being a criminal offence - while four in six say it shouldn't be

* Support for decriminalising other drugs far lower, including for ecstasy/MDMA (less than 10 per cent) and methamphetamine (less than five per cent)

KEY QUOTES

* "Illicit drugs, their contents, are more unpredictable than ever before ... markets are increasingly complex and dynamic" - Amy Peacock, National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC) deputy director

* "It doesn't matter where you live or who you vote for, drugs have scarred every Australian community in some way" - NSW Premier Chris Minns

* "It's not the fine (for drug use) ... the main harms are the reduction in future earnings and employment prospects, the restrictions on travel, the trouble finding accommodation and, in some cases, the deeper involvement in crime" - Don Weatherburn, NDARC and former NSW crime statistics bureau chief

* "Some of the well-intentioned diversion doesn't quite work in the same way for Aboriginal and Torres Strait people as it was intended to" - Michael Doyle, University of Sydney health researcher

Data sources: NDARC, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, National Drug Strategy Household survey