Wastewater analysis shows Australian drug users appear to favour stimulants

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The latest analysis of Australia’s wastewater shows we're still a stimulant nation, with record high use of a raft of illegal drugs seen across the country.

Transcript

00:00The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission has been reporting on Australia's drug consumption

00:06since 2016.

00:08It does that by taking samples from dozens of wastewater treatment plants across the

00:13country.

00:14Its latest report, drawn from samples taken in December last year, shows cannabis is still

00:20Australia's most used drug, but consumption has decreased.

00:24When it comes to stimulants, the opposite is true.

00:28In capital cities, cocaine use hit a record high.

00:32So did consumption of methamphetamine.

00:34MDMA use is up, and so is ketamine consumption, while heroin use remained steady.

00:42So how does the nation's capital compare?

00:44Here, cannabis use is also on a downward trend.

00:48Cocaine, methamphetamine, MDMA and heroin have all seen a spike.

00:53As for ketamine, it's stayed relatively stable.

00:57The Territory Government decriminalised cannabis use in 2020, and last October did the same

01:03for other illicit drugs.

01:05It might seem tempting to make a correlation and assume more Canberrans are now opting

01:10for stimulants over cannabis, but the Commission says it's too early to make that link.

01:16And Canberra's pill-testing lead, Dr David Caldicott, warns the Commission's findings

01:21aren't conclusive proof that more cocaine is being used here.

01:26He says it's likely a case of quality rather than quantity.

01:31We're not seeing a spike in consumption.

01:33We are seeing a bit of a trend upwards in the purity of the drug being consumed.

01:38Highly pure cocaine is quite a dangerous product, and we are likely to see more problems associated

01:45with that if that is a trend that continues.

01:48Another important point is that the data doesn't tell us whether a small number of Canberrans

01:53are consuming a large amount of drugs, or a large cohort is using a small amount, or

01:59something in between.

02:00To get the full picture, hospital presentations and the findings from Canberra's pill-testing

02:05site also need to factor in.

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