Australian prisoners are using amphetamines at record rates, and the most potent form, methamphetamine, is driving this rise, a survey of police detainees by the Australian Institute of Criminology has revealed.
As part of the annual Drug Use Monitoring in Australia survey, 3,456 adult police detainees were questioned about their drug use between July 2013 and December 2014 at six locations across Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia and Western Australia. Urine samples were also taken to corroborate answers given.
“Overall, in 2013–14 the most notable trend in illicit drug use within the Australian detainee sample was a 13% increase in detainees testing positive to amphetamines,” a report on the survey findings released on Sunday said.
“This was mainly due to an 11 percentage-point increase in detainees testing positive to methamphetamine.” Methamphetamine is more commonly known as ice, and recent research suggests its strength and purity has risen, causing more harm to users.
Of the prisoners surveyed, 37% tested positive to amphetamines, compared with 24% the previous year. It marked the highest recorded rate of amphetamine use in the survey’s history, with the previous peak being 35% in both 2003 and 2004.
The survey has been running since 1999, making it the largest and longest-running survey of drug use among police detainees in Australia.
The director of the Australian Institute of Criminology, Chris Dawson, said the findings meant it was important to continue to closely monitor methamphetamine market trends, such as availability and purity.
“This new data shows the continuing national rise in methamphetamine use among Australian police detainees,” he wrote in a foreword to the report.
“Methamphetamine use was identified in 23% of urine samples provided by detainees in Adelaide, 24% in Bankstown, 34% in Brisbane, 37% in East Perth and 52% in Kings Cross.
While experts are unsure why ice use has increased given it remains relatively expensive when compared to other drugs, the availability of ice as a result of growing local awareness and sophistication in how to manufacture it is suspected to have contributed.
The majority of prisoners surveyed – 78% – reported that when ice supply was low, they managed to abstain from using the drug, but did not increase their use of more readily available drugs, such as alcohol.
“These findings suggest that supply-side reduction strategies may be effective in terms of harm minimisation: that is, a reduction in supply appears to reduce use of that drug without increasing the use of other substances,” Dawson wrote.
However, cannabis continues to be the most commonly detected drug among police detainees. While peak cannabis use among prisoners was recorded in 1999, when 61% tested positive, 46% tested positive in the most recent survey.
Alcohol use was also high, with 41% of detainees reporting that they had drunk alcohol in the 48 hours prior to their arrest.
“The average quantity of alcohol detainees reported consuming on the last occasion of drinking was 19 standard drinks, although it was as high as 31 standard drinks for the sub-group of detainees who reported consuming a mix of beer, wine or spirits on the last occasion,” the report found.
The average in the previous year was 22 standard drinks, the report said.
