Australian Capital Territory

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Overview Client demographics Drugs of concern Treatment Agencies

In 2022–23, 17 publicly funded alcohol and other drug (AOD) treatment agencies in the Australian Capital Territory provided 5,879 treatment episodes to 3,599 clients (tables Agcy.1, SCR.21). 

The Australian Capital Territory reported:

  • Client numbers increased from 2,949 in 2013–14 to 4,109 in 2017–18, then fell to 3,599 in 2022–23.
  • More clients are accessing AOD services in 2022–23 than 2013–14, after adjusting for population growth (887 clients per 100,000 people compared with 877 per 100,000, respectively) (Table SCR.21).
  • A 26% increase in treatment episodes between 2013–14 to 2022–23, from 4,652 episodes to 5,879 episodes (Table ST ACT.2).

Australian Capital Territory, 2022–23

The visualisation shows that 5,879 treatment episodes were provided to 3,599 clients in the Australian Capital Territory in 2022–23. This equates to a rate of 1,449 episodes and 887 clients per 100,000 population, which is higher than the national rate (1,017 episodes and 568 clients per 100,000 population).

In 2022–23, most (79%) clients in the Australian Capital Territory attended 1 agency, and received an average of 1.6 treatment episodes, which is lower than the national average of 1.8 treatment episodes (tables SCR.21, SCR.23).

Client demographics

In 2022–23:

  • Nearly all (95%) clients in the Australian Capital Territory received treatment for their own alcohol or drug use, of which almost 2 in 3 (64%) people were male (Figure ACT 1).
  • People who received treatment for someone else’s alcohol or drug use were mostly female (67%).
  • Nearly half (49%) of all clients were aged 30–49 years.
  • Around 1 in 8 (13%) of all clients were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (First Nations) people, which is lower than the national proportion (18%).
  • The majority (85%) of all clients were born in Australia and nearly all (98%) reported English as their preferred language (tables SC ACT.1–3, SC.4, SC ACT.21–22).

Figure ACT 1: AODTS clients by client type and selected demographics, Australian Capital Territory, 2022–23

The visualisation includes a series of horizontal bar graphs showing that, in 2022–23 in the Australian Capital Territory, just under two-thirds (63%) of all clients were male, 49% were aged 30–49 and 13% were First Nations people. Nearly all clients (98%) listed English as their preferred language and most (85%) were born in Australia.

New and returning clients

In 2022–23:

  • 3 in 5 (60% or 2,073) of all clients in Australian Capital Territory were returning clients, who have previously received AOD treatment from a service at some point since 2013–14.
  • 2 in 5 (40% or 1,398) of all clients in Australian Capital Territory were a new client, who had not previously received treatment since 2013–14 (see Key terminology and glossary) (Table SCR 28).

Drugs of concern

In 2022–23, for clients in the Australian Capital Territory who received treatment episodes for their own alcohol or drug use (5,692 episodes):

  • Alcohol was the most common principal drug of concern (46% or 2,643 episodes) (Figure ACT 2, Table ST ACT.7).
  • Amphetamines accounted for 1 in 5 (22% or 1,269) treatment episodes.

Figure ACT 2: Proportion of treatment episodes for own drug use, by drug of concern, Australian Capital Territory, 2013–14 to 2022–23

The grouped horizontal bar chart shows that, in 2022–23, alcohol was the most common principal drug of concern in treatment episodes provided to clients in the Australian Capital Territory for their own drug use (46.4%). This was followed by amphetamines (22.3%), heroin (12.4%) and cannabis (9.9%). Cannabis was the most common additional drug of concern (14.2% of episodes), followed by nicotine (13.3%) and amphetamines (9.1%).

In 2022–23, for clients who received treatment for their own use of amphetamines (1,269 episodes):

  • Methamphetamine was reported as a principal drug of concern for over 9 in 10 (92%) treatment episodes.
  • In almost half (46%) of the treatment episodes where methamphetamine was the principal drug of concern, injecting was the most common method of use, followed by smoking (37%) (Figure ACT 3). 

Figure ACT 3: Proportion of treatment episodes for own drug use, by amphetamine group (2013–14 to 2022–23) or method of use (2022–23), Australian Capital Territory (per cent)

The line graph shows that in 2013–14, methamphetamine was the most common principal drug of concern within the amphetamines group. The proportion of methamphetamine-related episodes increased from 43.1% of amphetamine-related episodes in 2013–14 to 92.0% in 2022–23.

Clients can nominate up to 5 additional drugs of concern; these drugs are not necessarily the subject of any treatment within the episode (see technical notes).

In 2022–23, where additional drugs of concern were reported, cannabis was the most common additional drug (14%), followed by nicotine (13%) (Table ST ACT.7). 

Over the period 2013–14 to 2022–23:

  • Alcohol was the most common principal drug of concern relative to all other drugs accounting for almost half (47%) of episodes in 2013–14, falling to 43% of episodes in 2021–22, before increasing to 46% in 2022–23 Table ST ACT.7).
  • The proportion of episodes with amphetamines as the principal drug of concern increased from 15% (677 episodes) in 2013–14 to a peak in 2016–17 of 25% (1,572 episodes), before falling to 22% (1,269 episodes) in 2022–23.
    • Within the amphetamines group, methamphetamine was reported as the principal drug of concern in 43% of episodes in 2013–14, rising to 92% in 2022–23 (Figure ACT 3).
    • The rise in episodes may be related to increases in funded treatment services and/or improvement in agency coding practices for methamphetamine.
  • The proportion of episodes with heroin as a principal drug of concern fell from 11% in 2013–14 to 8–9% between 2014–15 and 2017–18, before rising to 14% in 2020–21, then falling to 12% in 2022–23 (higher than the national proportion of 4.5%) (Table Drg.5).
  • The proportion of episodes for cannabis as the principal drug of concern has steadily declined from 2013–14 (18% to 9.9% in 2022–23).

Treatment

In 2022–23, for treatment episodes in the Australian Capital Territory (5,879 episodes):

  • Information and education was the most common main treatment (25% of episodes) (Figure ACT 4, Table ST ACT.13).
  • Counselling was the second most common treatment (23%), followed by support and case management (15%).
  • Where an additional treatment was provided as a supplementary to the main treatment support and case management (3.2%) was the most common additional treatment, followed by counselling (1.9%). See technical notes for further information on calculating proportions for additional treatment type.

Over the period 2013–14 to 2022–23:

  • Information and education became the most common main treatment type in 2022–23; in the 10 years prior, the proportion of episodes with information and education as main treatment ranged from 21% in 2013–14 to 32% in 2017–18, before decreasing to 19% in 2021–22, then increasing to 25% in 2022–23 (Table ST ACT.13).
  • The proportion of episodes with counselling as main treatment ranged from 19% in 2013–14 to 28% in 2018–19, before decreasing to 23% in 2022–23.
  • Compared to national proportions, fewer treatment episodes provided in the ACT had counselling as main treatment over the 10 years to 2022–23 (ranging from 19% to 28% in the ACT, compared with 34% to 43% nationally).
  • Conversely, more treatment episodes in the ACT had information and education as main treatment (ranging from 16% to 32% in the ACT compared with 2.4% to 10% nationally) (tables ST ACT.13, Trt.3).

Figure ACT 4: Proportion of treatment episodes, by treatment type, Australian Capital Territory, 2013–14 to 2022–23

 The grouped horizontal bar chart shows that, in 2022–23, the most common main treatment type provided to clients in the Australian Capital Territory for their own drug use was information and education (25.2% of episodes). This was followed by counselling (22.5%), and support and case management (14.7%). Other treatments and support and case management were the most common additional treatment types (5.0% and 3.2% of episodes respectively).

Agencies

The Australian Capital Territory only has the one geographical classification of Major city, and the majority of treatment agencies are non-government organisations (88%) (Figure ACT 5, Table Agcy.3).

Over the period 2013–14 to 2022–23, the number of publicly funded treatment agencies rose from 15 to 17 agencies (Table Agcy.1).

Figure ACT 5: Number of agencies, by remoteness area and sector, Australian Capital Territory, 2022–23

The horizontal bar chart shows that all treatment agencies in the Australian Capital Territory were located in Major cities in 2022–23. Of the total 17 treatment agencies, most (15 agencies) were non-government agencies.

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