Trends in cannabis availability, use, and treatment in Australia, 2013–14 to 2021–22

The Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment National Minimum Data Set (AODTS NMDS) includes information about the principal drug of concern (PDOC) that the client stated led them to seek treatment. Principal drugs of concern include cannabis as well as other drugs such as alcohol, amphetamines, heroin, ecstasy and cocaine. Clients can only receive treatment for one PDOC per treatment episode, but clients may also receive multiple treatment episodes for different principal drugs of concern. In this report, the criteria include clients who have received treatment only for cannabis, or for cannabis and another PDOC across multiple episodes within the study period. Process analysis was not conducted for principal drug of concern. For more information, see What is process analysis?.

Trace analysis of treatment pathways by principal drug of concern

Traces display the most common treatment pathways among clients who received treatment for cannabis, by key treatment characteristics. The traces represent sequences of treatment episodes in the order in which clients received treatment within the study period. For more information, see What is trace explorer analysis?

Among clients who received treatment for cannabis between 2013–14 and 2021–22, there were around 19,300 sequences of episodes by PDOC. Compared with clients who had only received treatment for cannabis, those who received treatment for cannabis and another PDOC had a much higher number of treatment sequences. The most common treatment pathways by PDOC varied by cannabis cohort (Figure 12; Table 3.9).

Figure 12: Treatment pathways for clients who received treatment for cannabis, by principal drug of concern, cohort, and age group, sex, or remoteness area, 2013–14 to 2021–22

For clients who received treatment for cannabis only, the most common treatment pathway involved one treatment episode for cannabis (54% of clients) (Figure 12; Table 3.9). This was consistent by age group, sex, and remoteness area.

For clients who had received treatment for cannabis and another PDOC, the 2 most common treatment pathways involved an initial episode for cannabis followed by a second episode for either amphetamines (5.1% of clients) or alcohol (5.0%) (Figure 12; Table 3.9). This was similar by sex but differed by age and remoteness area.

• For people aged 20–29 (10% of clients) or 30–39 (9.7%), and those living in Major cities (9.9%), Inner regional areas (11%), or Outer regional areas (13%), the 2 most common pathways involved an initial episode for cannabis followed by a second episode for either amphetamines or alcohol.
• For those aged 10–19 (10% of clients), 40–49 (10%), or 50 and over (13%), and those living in Remote and Very remote areas (17%), the 2 most common pathways involved either one episode for cannabis followed by a second episode for alcohol or vice versa.