Cocaine and cannabis on the rise but young Aussies shun booze

Jill Margo

Jul 16, 2020

AFR

People under 30 are less likely to smoke, drink alcohol or consume illicit drugs than previous generations, according to a benchmark survey.

For other Australians, the survey shows smoking rates have fallen and alcohol consumption has remained stable but the use of illicit drugs, particularly cannabis and cocaine, is up.

The National Drug Strategy Household Survey 19, conducted over three years, benchmarks Australia’s use of drugs before the twin calamities of the summer bushfires and COVID-19, and will be a standard against which the social and behavioural impact of the fires and the pandemic can be measured in future.

Cocaine use rose from 2.5 to 4.2 per cent, while cannabis use climbed from 10.4 to 11.6 per cent.

Conducted by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, it surveyed more than 22,000 people and showed that older Australians, particularly those over 70, were most likely to drink alcohol daily and those in their 40s and 50s were most likely to smoke daily.

There has been a marked change in youth drinking this century. Last year, more than 60 per cent of the youngest participants, aged 14 to 17, had never consumed a full standard drink. This is more than double the proportion in 2001.

Similarly, last year 22 per cent of 20-somethings abstained, up almost 9 per cent since 2001.

Drug use rising

In 2001, 38 per cent of 14-19 year-olds had used an illicit drug at some point in their lives, but by 2019 this had dropped to 22 per cent. By comparison, more than half those in their 40s had used illicit drugs at some time.

Overall, cannabis use was up from 10.4 to 11.6 per cent, while cocaine use rose from 2.5 to 4.2 per cent and ecstasy from 2.2 to 3.0 per cent.

The survey shows the reclassification in 2018 of medications containing codeine, to make them available only by prescription, largely accounts for the decline in non-medical use of pharmaceuticals.

The proportion of people using codeine for non-medical purposes halved since 2016, from 3.0 to 1.5 per cent in 2019.

Spending more time at home, increased psychological stress and child care duties emerged as important drivers of increased drinking.  (Tom Herde/Boston Globe Photo.)  (NY Times News Service)

Why women turned to alcohol during COVID-19

While tobacco is the leading cause of preventable disease and death in Australia, smoking rates have more than halved since 1991 when almost one quarter of Australians were daily smokers.

The daily smoking rate has now dropped to 11 per cent, with more smokers saying the cost was motivating them to quit or cut back.

More people cut back on alcohol too, although the proportion of people drinking at risky levels has been stable since 2016.

Alcohol remains the most commonly used drug in Australia, with about three in four Australians reporting they consumed alcohol in the previous 12 months.

Since 2010, risky alcohol consumption and smoking by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians generally declined while illicit drug use remained stable.