Australian leads meth use among 20-odd countries in new report

Australia has topped the list of methylamphetamine use among more than 20 countries, a wastewater analysis has found. 

The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission’s (ACIC) latest report found that in December 2021, methylamphetamine consumption in Australia was the highest per capita when compared with nations in Europe, Asia and Oceania.

For the first time since 2017, the use of methylamphetamine, cocaine and MDMA in Australian capital cities outstripped regional areas.

Perth is the new meth capital of Australia while regional New South Wales has the most meth use among rural Australia.

Illicit stimulants are showing early signs of increase post-pandemic, but not yet to the levels recorded pre-COVID-19.

The national wastewater drug monitoring compares samples taken around Australia between December 2021 and February this year.

ACIC chief executive Michael Phelan said this period is a time when COVID-19 restrictions were relaxed or removed in most Australian states.

“Organised crime groups have redoubled their efforts to supply the major illicit drug markets as COVID-19 restrictions eased, generating significant illicit revenue, but they continue to face challenges, not least from law enforcement agencies,” Mr Phelan said.

“Regular and near-real-time wastewater reporting enables the ACIC and our partners to detect and respond to increasing drug threats in a timely way and monitor the impact of responses.”

Australia tops stimulant use

Australia ranked the highest in terms of methylamphetamine, cocaine and MDMA combined use when compared to other nations such as New Zealand, United Kingdom, Portugal and South Korea.

Samples collected in April 2021 in Australia were used to compare with analysis by the Sewage Core Group Europe (SCORE) that gathered results from 86 cities in 27 countries.

Czech Republic also ranks second on the list for meth use, while cocaine was more popular in France.

Of the 26 countries reporting MDMA consumption, Australia ranked 5th while for cannabis we ranked 6th out of 16 countries.

The SCORE study does not include most Asian nations and the Americas.

Cities had more meth use

ACIC principal advisor for drugs, Shane Neilson, said the Australian illicit drug market was supplied by both international imports and domestic manufacturing.

He said when COVID-19 restrictions eased in December last year, the market was in a stage where illicit drugs “were being resupplied”.

“Hence it was logical that capital city consumption where the product was imported was higher than regional where they had to transfer from cities out to regional areas,” he said.

He said the reopening of international borders had a “significant role” in the increased consumption of illicit drugs.

“The movement restrictions and also restrictions on association and the closure of entertainment venues undoubtedly had a downward effect on consumption,” he said. 

Mr Neilson said cannabis, which were largely produced domestically, did not see much drop in use during the pandemic and would likely remain steady for the rest of the year.

Meth hardest drug habit to kick

While alcohol and nicotine remain the most common substance, methylamphetamine was the most popular illicit drug in Australia.

“What we found was most of the markets that were predominantly supplied by imports reduced during the COVID period,” Mr Neilson said. 

“The exception there is the methylamphetamine market, now it reduced considerably but what also happened, it was still significantly higher in terms of consumption than most other illicit drugs.

Despite the growing cost of living pressures, Mr Neilson said if given the choice, people would still choose to take illicit drugs over paying for household needs.

“I think that is quite a sad situation and underlies the harms that are posed by consumption of these illicit drugs.”

Perth is new meth capital

Mr Neilson said Perth traditionally has high levels of methylamphetamine use per capita, despite tight COVID restrictions there for the past two years.

“The issue there is the population in Perth is less than the eastern seaboard capital cities … the level of consumption is actually higher in terms of weight on the eastern seaboard but per capita that’s why Perth is high.”

Mr Neilson said regional NSW has highest per capita consumption because they are part of key drug supply routes.

“What we will expect in the next four to eight months would be a return to more normal levels of consumption, particularly in the methylamphetamine market,” he said.