Alcohol is still the main concern for adults seeking
treatment for drug use, while youths struggle with weed.
Image: iStockphoto
The latest report on alcohol and other drug treatment services in Australia, released 17 October by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, shows that alcohol, and then cannabis, are still the top drugs of concern for people seeking treatment for alcohol and drug use.
'For younger people (aged 10-19 years) the pattern was reversed, with cannabis nominated as the most common principal drug of concern (47 per cent of treatment episodes) followed by alcohol (29 per cent),' said Dr Paul Meyer of the Institute's Drug Surveys and Services Unit.
The report, Alcohol and other drug treatment services in Australia 2006-07, profiles 147,325 treatment episodes from 633 government-funded alcohol and other drug treatment agencies across Australia.
Of these treatment episodes, 95 per cent involved clients seeking treatment for their own alcohol or drug use, while the other 5 per cent involved people seeking support or assistance in relation to someone else's alcohol or drug use.
The main drug of concern for those seeking treatment for themselves was alcohol (42 per cent of treatment episodes). The number of treatment episodes where alcohol was nominated as the principal drug of concern increased from 56,076 in 2005-06 to 59,480 in 2006-07.
'While there was an increase in the total number of treatment episodes for alcohol, it is unclear what the relationship is between changes in alcohol consumption and use of treatment services,' Dr Meyer said.
Cannabis, at 23 per cent, was the second most common principal drug of concern, followed by opioids at 14 per cent (including heroin at 11 per cent).
Alcohol was the focus of more treatment episodes for older age groups-42 per cent for those in the 30-39 age group, and 84 per cent for people 60 years and older.
As seen in previous years, most treatment episodes (66 per cent) were provided to male clients.
'This continues the pattern seen since the start of the collection in 2001-02,' Dr Meyer said.
Across Australia, counselling was the most common form of treatment provided (38 per cent of treatment episodes), followed by withdrawal management or detox (17 per cent) and assessment only (15 per cent).
Editor's Note: Original news release can be found here.
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