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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2015-03-25 Daily Xml
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Illicit Drugs

The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD (15:49): Australia, and South Australia in particular, is awash with the use of illicit drugs. In 2013 approximately eight million (or 42 per cent) of the population of Australia at that time aged 14 years or older reported having used illicit drugs. Of those eight million people, almost three million had done so in the past 12 months, and this is a substantial increase—more than 10 per cent—from 2.7 million people in 2010 just two years earlier.

The AIHW's alcohol and other drug treatment services in Australia report from 2012-13 showed that the principal drugs of concern were cannabis and amphetamines. South Australia's amphetamine use in 2012-13 was almost double that of the national average with almost one in four (24 per cent) episodes compared with the national average of one in seven (14 per cent). Australia-wide there have been reports of increased use of pharmaceutical opioids as well, which could open the way for greater use of illicit opioids, the report says.

The National Coronial Information System reports that opioid drugs were found to have made a primary contribution to death in 4,102 cases reported to an Australian coroner across a five-year period between 2007 and 2011. This averages over 820 deaths a year, of which 71 per cent were deemed to be unintentional. The number of death would, of course, increase should you factor in other drug related deaths. This is a tragic number of needless deaths which must be addressed by governments and parliaments across this country and by this one in particular. The societal cost in relation to illicit drugs was estimated to exceed $8 billion in the 2004-05 financial year and had a net cost of $201.7 million on the Australian healthcare system, and that is a very conservative estimate.

The number of drug and alcohol treatment agencies increased by 8 per cent Australia-wide and South Australia reported an increase of 56 to 93 publicly funded agencies—this is nearly double the number of agencies in just one year. Whilst at one level one can take some encouragement that support is being provided, the rate at which these services are growing is deeply concerning. It also begs the question: how many more people are falling through the cracks in the system? If we double the number of agencies in one given year, the problem must be very substantial indeed.

The burden placed on hospitals in relation to illicit drug use is also an area of significant concern. About 113,000 hospital separations with a drug related principal diagnosis were reported Australia-wide in 2012-13. The Australian Hospitals Statistics report said that, for public hospitals alone, drug related separations cost in the order of $127 million. In South Australia, same-day separations in 2011-12 for drug and alcohol use and induced mental disorders was 881 in that year alone, with overnight separations increasing to 1,920 in public hospitals and 254 additionally in private hospitals. The report considers injuries, poisoning and toxic effects of drugs which also report staggeringly high statistics on all of these fronts.

In 2013, 8.3 per cent of the population reported having been the victim of an illicit drug related incident. Whilst abuse was the most frequently reported incident, the seriousness should not be underestimated. A high proportion also experienced physical abuse by someone under the influence of illicit drugs, increasing significantly from 2.2 per cent in 2010 to 3.1 per cent in 2013. Every statistic says that illicit drug use is on the rise and that the impacts are increasingly serious and severe.

Obviously, there is a cost and time burden placed on policing these issues as well. The ABS reported an increase of 3 per cent finalised drug matters by police for the year 2013-14. It is without question that South Australia has very serious problems with illicit drug use and, while some inroads have been made, there remains a significant way to go in order to reduce the burden on society created by illicit drug use and to address the reasons why people turn to drug use in the first instance. I see it as a priority to focus on this problem in the future.

Time expired.

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