Tasmania

On this page

Overview Client demographics Drugs of concern Treatment Agencies

In 2022–23, 21 publicly funded alcohol and other drug (AOD) treatment agencies in Tasmania provided 3,536 treatment episodes to 2,642 clients (tables Agcy.1, SCR.21).

Tasmania reported:

  • Client numbers increased from 2,432 in 2013–14 to 2,642 in 2022–23, a similar number to 2021–22 (2,684).
  • Fewer clients are accessing AOD services in 2022–23 than 2013–14, after adjusting for population growth (517 clients per 100,000 people compared with 540 per 100,000, respectively) (Table SCR.21). 
  • A 8.4% decrease in treatment episodes from 3,859 in 2020–21 to 3,536 in 2022–23, and a 24% increase in treatment episodes since 2013–14 (2,841) (Table ST TAS.2).

Tasmania, 2022–23

 The visualisation shows that 3,536 treatment episodes were provided to 2,642 clients in Tasmania in 2022–23. This equates to a rate of 692 episodes and 517 clients per 100,000 population, lower than the national rate (1,017 episodes and 568 clients per 100,000 population).

In 2022–23, most (86%) clients in Tasmania attended 1 agency, and received an average of 1.3 treatment episodes, which is lower than national average of 1.8 treatment episodes (tables SCR.21, SCR.23).

Client demographics

In 2022–23:

  • Most (95%) clients in Tasmania received treatment for their own alcohol or drug use, of which 3 in 5 (61%) people were male (Figure TAS 1).
  • People who received treatment for someone else’s alcohol or drug use were most likely to be female (74%).
  • Almost half (48%) of all clients were aged 20–39 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 (93%) of all clients were born in Australia and nearly all (97%) reported English as their preferred language (tables SC Tas.1–3, SC.4, SC TAS.21–22).

Figure TAS 1: AODTS clients by client type and selected demographics, Tasmania, 2022–23

The visualisation includes a series of horizontal bar graphs showing that, in 2022–23 in Tasmania, just under three in five (60%) of all clients were male, 48% were aged 20–39 and 13% were First Nations people. Nearly all clients (97%) listed English as their preferred language and most (93%) were born in Australia.

New and returning clients

In 2022–23:

  • About half (51% or 1,321) of all clients in Tasmania were returning clients, who have previously received AOD treatment from a service at some point since 2013–14.
  • About half (49% or 1,272) of all clients in Tasmania 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 Tasmania who received treatment episodes for their own alcohol or drug use (3,368 episodes):

  • Alcohol was the most common principal drug of concern (51% or 1,709 episodes) (Figure TAS 2, Table ST TAS.7)
  • Amphetamines as a principal drug of concern accounted for 1 in 4 treatment episodes (22% or 725 episodes).

Figure TAS 2: Proportion of treatment episodes for own drug use, by drug of concern, Tasmania, 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 Tasmania for their own drug use (50.7%). This was followed by amphetamines (21.5%) and cannabis (16.9%). Cannabis was the most common additional drug of concern (15.3% of episodes), followed by amphetamines (9.9%) and alcohol (7.4%).

In 2022–23, for clients who received treatment for their own use of amphetamines (725 episodes):

  • Methamphetamine was reported as a principal drug of concern in over 8 in 10 (86%) treatment episodes.
  • In almost half (48%) of treatment episodes where methamphetamine was a principal drug of concern, injecting was the most common method of use, followed by smoking (36%) (Figure TAS 3).

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

The line graph shows that, in 2013–14, amphetamine was the most common drug of concern among amphetamine-related treatment episodes for clients’ own drug use. In 2014–15, methamphetamine became the most common drug of concern. The proportion of episodes for methamphetamine increased from 25.9% in 2013–14 to 86.2% in 2022–23, while episodes for amphetamine decreased from 69.7% to 5.9% over the same period. Buttons allow the user to navigate to data for amphetamines by method of use. 

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 of concern (15% of episodes), followed by amphetamines (9.9%), then nicotine (9.2%) (Table ST TAS.7).

Over the period 2013–14 to 2022–23:

  • Alcohol was the most common principal drug of concern, increasing from 41% of episodes in 2013–14 (1,078 episodes) to 51% (1,709) in 2022–23 (Table ST TAS.7).
  • Treatment episodes for amphetamines increased from 11% (290 episodes) to 22% (725) over the period.
  • Treatment episodes for cannabis decreased from 30% (784 episodes) to 17% (570). While the number of treatment episodes increased, the proportion in relation to all principal drugs of concern decreased.
  • Within the amphetamines group, methamphetamine was reported as the principal drug of concern in 26% of episodes in 2013–14, rising to 93% in 2019–20, falling to 86% in 2022–23 (Figure TAS 3). The rise in episodes may be related to increases in funded treatment services and/or improvement in agency coding practices for methamphetamine.

Treatment

In 2022–23, for treatment episodes in Tasmania (3,536 episodes):

  • Counselling was the most common main treatment (50% of episodes), followed by rehabilitation (22%) (Figure TAS 4, Table ST TAS.13).
  • Where an additional treatment was provided as a supplementary to the main treatment, support and case management (5.5%) was the most common type of additional treatment, followed by counselling (4.1%) and information and education (1.6%). See technical notes for further information on calculating proportions for additional treatment type.

Over the period 2013–14 to 2022–23:

  • Counselling remained the most common main treatment, with the proportion of episodes peaking at 62% in 2013–14, falling to 37% in 2016–17, before fluctuating between 48% to 50% from 2018–19 onwards.
  • Rehabilitation increased from 2013–14 (5.5%) peaking in 2016–17 (24%) before decreasing in 2022–23 (22%); the proportion of episodes for rehabilitation is higher than the national proportion over this period (ranging from 5.5–6.6%) (tables ST TAS.13, Trt.1).

Figure TAS 4: Proportion of treatment episodes, by treatment type, Tasmania, 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 Tasmania for their own drug use was counselling (50.4% of episodes). This was followed by rehabilitation (22.5%) and assessment only (16.2%).  Support and case management was the most common additional treatment type (5.5% of episodes), followed by counselling (4.1%).

Agencies

Tasmania only has the geographical classifications of Inner regional, Outer regional and Remote areas.

In 2022–23, in Tasmania:

  • Almost 9 in 10 (86%) of the 21 AOD agencies that received public funding were non-government treatment agencies.
  • 52% of agencies were located in Inner regional areas, followed by Outer regional (48%) (Figure TAS 5, Table Agcy.3).
  • Agencies located in Inner regional and Outer regional areas were more likely to be non-government organisations.

In the 10 years to 2022–23, the number of publicly funded treatment agencies in Tasmania has been consistent from 2013–14 (22 agencies) to 2022–23 (21 agencies) (Table Agcy.1).

Note that remoteness categories are derived by applying a correspondence based on the agency’s Statistical Area level 2 code (SA2). Not all SA2 codes fit neatly within a single remoteness category, and a ratio is applied to reapportion each SA2 to the applicable remoteness categories. As a result, it is possible that the number of agencies in a particular remoteness category is not a whole number. After rounding, this can result in there being ‘<0.5%’ agencies in a remoteness area, due to the agency’s SA2 partially crossing into the remoteness area. See technical notes for further details.

Figure TAS 5: Number of agencies, by remoteness area and sector, Tasmania, 2022–23

The horizontal bar chart shows that most treatment agencies in Tasmania were located in Inner regional areas (11 agencies), followed by Outer regional areas (10 agencies) in 2022–23. Of the total 21 treatment agencies, most (18 agencies) were non-government agencies.

Previous page
Next page