Alcohol and other drug treatment services in Australia annual report

In 2022–23, 179 publicly funded alcohol and other drug (AOD) treatment agencies in Queensland provided 53,280 treatments to 36,331 clients (tables Agcy.1, SCR.21). 

Queensland reported:

• Client numbers increased from 28,960 in 2013–14 to 36,331 in 2022–23. There was a 5.1% increase between 2021–22 and 2022–23 from 34,565 to 36,331.
• More clients are accessing AOD services in 2022–23 than 2013–14, after adjusting for population growth (768 clients per 100,000 people compared with 714 per 100,000, respectively) (Table SCR.21).
• A 7.3% increase in treatment episodes from 49,674 in 2021–22 to 53,280 in 2022–23, and a 48% increase in treatment episodes since 2013–14 (36,093) (Table ST QLD.2).

Queensland, 2022–23

In 2022–23, most (85%) clients in Queensland attended 1 agency, and received an average of 1.5 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 (97%) clients in Queensland received treatment for their own alcohol or drug use, of which over 3 in 5 (63%) people were male (Figure QLD 1).
• Clients who received treatment for someone else’s alcohol or drug use were more likely to be female (around 7 in 10 or 72%).
• Almost half (48%) of people were aged 20–39 years, and 12% were aged 10–19 years which is higher than the national proportion for clients aged 10–19 years (9.3%).
• About 1 in 5 (19%) of all clients were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (First Nations) people, which is consistent with the national proportion (18%).
• The majority (89%) of all clients were born in Australia and nearly all (99%) reported English as their preferred language (tables SC QLD.1–3, SC.3–4, SC QLD.21–22).

Figure QLD 1: AODTS clients by client type and selected demographics, Queensland, 2022–23

New and returning clients

In 2022–23, of all clients in Queensland there was an equal proportion of both returning and new clients:

• Half (50% or 18,145) of all clients were returning clients, who have previously received AOD treatment from a service at some point since 2013–14.  
• Half (50% or 17,983) of all clients 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 Queensland who received treatment episodes for their own alcohol or drug use (52,127 episodes):

• Alcohol was the most common principal drug of concern (41% or 21,407 episodes) (Figure QLD 2, Table ST QLD.6).
• Amphetamines and cannabis were the second most common principal drugs of concern in Queensland, with 22% for amphetamines (11,563 episodes) and 22% for cannabis (11,286 episodes). 
• In Queensland, the level of cannabis reported as the principal drug of concern is a result of the police and illicit drug court diversion programs operating in the state (Table ST QLD.12). 

Figure QLD 2: Proportion of treatment episodes for own drug use, by drug of concern, Queensland, 2013–14 to 2022–23

In 2022–23, for clients who received treatment for their own use of amphetamines (11,563):

• Methamphetamine was reported as a principal drug of concern in over 9 in 10 (91%) treatment episodes (Figure QLD 3).
• In almost half (49%) of treatment episodes where methamphetamine was the principal drug of concern, injecting was the most common method of use, followed by smoking (38%) (Figure QLD 3). 

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

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).  

Where additional drugs of concern were reported, cannabis was the most common additional drug (8.7% of episodes), followed by nicotine (5.3%) and alcohol (5.0%) (Table ST QLD.7). 

Over the period 2013–14 to 2022–23: 

• Alcohol was the most common principal drug of concern in 2013–14, and in 2018–19 replaced cannabis as the most common principal drug of concern. 
  • The proportion of episodes for alcohol as a principal drug of concern increased from 38% in 2013–14 to 41% in 2022–23, relative to all other principal drugs of concern. However, the number of treatment episodes almost doubled over this period from 13,188 episodes to 21,407 (Table ST QLD.7). 
• Cannabis was the second most common principal drug of concern, with treatment episodes increasing from 34% in 2013–14, peaking at 39% in 2015–16 and falling to 22% in 2022–23. From 2013–14 to 2022–23, treatment episodes decreased from 11,796 to 11,286.
• The proportion of episodes for amphetamines as a principal drug of concern doubled since 2013–14 (12% to 22%), with the number of treatment episodes increasing from 4,362 to 11,563 over this period.
  • Within the amphetamines group, methamphetamine was reported as the principal drug of concern in 26% of episodes in 2013–14, rising to 65% in 2015–16, then 91% in 2022–23 (Figure QLD 3).
  • The rise in episodes where methamphetamine was the principal drug of concern may be related to increases in funded treatment services and improvements in agency coding practices for methamphetamine.
• The proportion of treatment episodes in Queensland where cannabis was the principal drug of concern was higher than the national proportion in 2022–23 (22% compared with 17%) (Table Drg.1). This trend has been consistent for the 10-year period.

Treatment

In 2022–23, for treatment episodes in Queensland (53,280 episodes):

• Counselling was the most common main treatment (40% of episodes), followed by assessment only (34%) (Figure QLD 4).
• The proportion of episodes for information and education as a main treatment dropped 17 percentage points from 2019–20 (21%) to 2022–23 (3.7%). This was due to a review of coding practices which resulted a large proportion of episodes previously coded as information and education being coded as counselling (Table ST QLD.13).

• Where an additional treatment was provided as supplementary to the main treatment, support and case management (1.5%) was also the most common type of additional treatment, followed by information and education (1.2%). See technical notes for further information on calculating proportions for additional treatment type.

Over the period 2013–14 to 2022–23:

• The proportion of all treatment episodes where counselling was the main treatment type increased from 30% in 2013–14 to 40% in 2022–23. Counselling replaced information and education as the most common treatment in 2016–17.
• The proportion of withdrawal management as a main treatment type decreased from 8.4 down to 4.9 in 2022–23.
• The proportion of information and education as a main treatment decreased from 31% in 2013–14 to 3.7% in 2022–23.

Figure QLD 4: Proportion of treatment episodes, by treatment type, Queensland, 2013–14 to 2022–23

Agencies

In 2022–23, in Queensland:

• More than 7 in 10 (72%) AOD agencies that received public funding were non-government treatment agencies (Table Agcy.1).
• Almost half (47%) of the 179 treatment agencies were located in Major cities, followed by Outer regional (23%) and Inner regional (21%) areas.
• 2 in 5 (8.9%) of all government treatment agencies were located in Remote and Very remote areas (Figure QLD 5; Table Agcy.3).

In the 10 years to 2022–23, the number of publicly funded treatment agencies in Queensland steadily increased from 141 in 2013–14 to 194 in 2019–20, falling to 179 in 2022–23. The recent change in agency numbers is attributed to a review of the agency coding structure in the public sector. As a result, there have been significant agency identifier changes which have been constructed to align with the Queensland Health Corporate Reference Database System, providing a more accurate representation of number of agencies reporting at the service outlet level (Table Agcy.1).

Figure QLD 5: Number of agencies, by remoteness area and sector, Queensland, 2018–19 to 2022–23