Experiences of alcohol and other drugs among people in contact with the criminal justice system

Introduction

There were around 47,000 people aged 18 and over in prison in Australia as at 30 June 2025, a 6% increase from 2024 (ABS 2025). Just over 9,200 young people aged 10 and over were supervised at some time during the year in 2023–24, down from around 10,300 in 2019–20 (AIHW 2025b). 

People in contact with the criminal justice system are more likely to smoke tobacco and use alcohol at risky levels (Department of Health and Aged Care 2023, Fergusson et al. 2013). In addition, the illicit drugs market is associated with criminal activities such as property crime, fraud, and violence (Kopak and Hoffman 2014). Engagement in criminal activity (beyond the illegal use of drugs) is more prevalent among people who regularly use illicit drugs than the general population, particularly for people who inject drugs. 

This page focuses on alcohol and other drug use, harms and treatment among people in contact with the criminal justice system using data from a range of sources, mostly administrative and survey data. For related content on illicit drug markets and law enforcement activities such as drug seizures and arrests, see Illicit drug markets and drug-related law enforcement activities.

What data sources are available?

There are a range of data sources that contain information about alcohol and other drug use harms and treatment among people in contact with the criminal justice system. These include surveys of people in prison and people who use drugs, administrative data collected by law enforcement agencies. Each data set uses a different methodology, and the language used to describe people in contact with the criminal justice system may also differ across sources. 

For more information about each data source, see Technical notes.

What do we know about alcohol and other drug use among people in contact with the criminal justice system in Australia?

Tobacco smoking

Data from The health of people in Australia’s prisons showed that rates of tobacco smoking among people in prison are much higher than in the general community. In 2022, almost three-quarters (71%) of prison entrants currently smoked tobacco, and nearly two-thirds (64%) smoked tobacco daily (AIHW 2023; Figure 1). This is much higher than among the general population, with 11% of people currently smoking and 8.3% doing so on a daily basis (Figure 1).

The average age at which people first smoked their first full cigarette is also much lower for prison entrants (14.2 years) than the general population (16.6 years) (AIHW 2024a, Table 2.17).

Vaping and e-cigarette use

E-cigarette use is more common among people in prison than in the general community. In 2022:

• About 1 in 6 (16%) prison entrants currently used e-cigarettes, and around 1 in 8 (12%) reported using e-cigarettes daily (AIHW 2023). This is compared with 1 in 10 (10.6%) people in the general community (ABS 2023).
• Daily e-cigarette use was more common among people aged 18–24 (15%) compared with those in older age groups (7.3% of those aged 45 and over) (AIHW 2023).
• Rates of e-cigarette use were similar for both male (43%) and female (45%) prison entrants, much higher than in the community (17.4% for males and 11.4% for females) (ABS 2023, AIHW 2023).

Alcohol use

The Drug Use Monitoring in Australia (DUMA) program is an ongoing monitoring program that captures information on illicit drug use among police detainees. Data from the 2021 DUMA indicate that alcohol consumption is common among police detainees.

• Over one in 4 (27%) police detainees reported consuming alcohol in the 24 hours prior to their arrest, with a median of 10 standard drinks consumed.
• Among those who reported drinking alcohol in the 30 days before interview, 3 in 10 (30%) reported that alcohol use contributed to their arrest (Voce and Sullivan 2022).

Prison entrants in 2022 were as likely as the general population to be non-drinkers, however those that did drink were more likely to drink at high risk levels.

• Prison entrants aged 25–34 years were almost 3 times as likely to consume alcohol in greater quantities (7 or more standard drinks on a usual day of drinking) than those in the general community of the same age (39% compared to 13%).
• Almost half (47%) of prison entrants consumed 5 or more standard drinks on a typical day of drinking compared to 18% of people aged 15 and over in the general community. 
• During the 12 months prior to prison, 44% of prison entrants consumed alcohol at levels that placed them at high risk of alcohol-related harm (AIHW 2023).

Illicit drug use

Three-quarters (73%) of prison entrants reported using illicit drugs in the 12 months before incarceration in 2022, with the most common drug being cannabis (53%) followed by methamphetamine (46%) (AIHW 2023, Table S86) (Figure 2). In contrast, rates of drug use among the general population were substantially lower, with 1 in 6 (17.9%) people aged 14 and over reporting the use of any illicit drug in the past 12 months (AIHW 2024a, Table 5.6).

Data from the DUMA program indicate that drug use is also common among police detainees. In 2021, 45% of police detainees had used cannabis in the past 30 days and 41% had used methamphetamine (Voce and Sullivan 2022). Among police detainees who provided a urine sample:

• Almost 4 in 5 (77%) tested positive to any drug, and 41% tested positive to more than one drug type. 
• The most commonly detected drugs were amphetamine-type stimulants (52% of detainees), cannabis (45%) and opioids (18%) (Voce and Sullivan 2022). Almost all (95%) detainees who tested positive to amphetamine-type stimulants tested positive to methamphetamine specifically (Figure 2).

Experiences of crime and encounters with the criminal justice system among people who regularly use illicit drugs

Information related to criminal activity and contact with the criminal justice system among people who use illicit drugs is collected as part of the Ecstasy and Related Drugs Reporting System (EDRS) and the Illicit Drug Reporting System (IDRS). Data from both reports indicate that involvement with the criminal justice system is relatively common among people who regularly use drugs, particularly people who inject drugs.

In 2025, nearly 2 in 5 (37%) EDRS participants reported engaging in some form of criminal activity in the month prior to interview, stable from 41% in 2024 (Sutherland et al. 2025a). Similarly, 44% of participants in the 2025 IDRS reported engaging in any form of criminal activity in the month prior to interview, stable relative to 2024 (44%) (Sutherland et al. 2025b). 

The most commonly reported criminal activities in both the EDRS and the IDRS were selling drugs for cash profit and property crime. In 2025:

• In the EDRS, drug dealing remained stable between 2024 and 2025 (21% in 2025 and 24% 2024). Property crime also remained stable (23% in 2024 and 2025) (Sutherland et al 2025a).
• In the IDRS, these criminal activities also remained stable between 2024 and 2025: drug dealing (24% in both years) and property crime (28% and 29%, respectively) (Sutherland et al 2025b).

Of people who regularly used ecstasy and other stimulants in 2025:

• 8% had been arrested in the past year, and 15% reported a drug-related encounter with police that did not result in charge or arrest.
• A small proportion (7%) of the sample reported a lifetime history of imprisonment, stable from 2024 (6%) (Sutherland et al. 2025a).

Of people who regularly injected drugs in 2025:

• 22% reported having been arrested in the 12 months preceding interview, stable relative to 2024 (24%).
• 3 in 5 (60%) participants reported a lifetime history of imprisonment, remaining stable from 2024 (59%) (Sutherland et al. 2025b, Figure 40).

These differences may arise from the distinct characteristics of EDRS and IDRS participants. The types of drugs used, and methods of consumption, are not necessarily the same between the populations. Furthermore, the median age of people in the IDRS is higher than that of the EDRS (Sutherland et al. 2025a; Sutherland et al. 2025b).

What do we know about health and harms for people in contact with the criminal justice system?

The health of people in Australia’s prisons includes a number of indicators regarding prisoner health and harms. In 2022: 

• 51% of prison entrants had ever been told by a health professional that they have a mental health or behavioural condition (including drug and alcohol misuse).
• 11% of prison entrants experienced ‘a lot’ of distress due to alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs, while 31% experienced ‘a little’ distress (AIHW 2023).

Around 1 in 8 (13%) prison dischargees reported using a needle or other injecting, tattooing or piercing equipment that had been used by someone else, while in prison (AIHW 2023). Similarly, earlier data from the National Prison Entrants’ Blood Borne Virus and Risk Behaviour Survey in 2013 found that almost 1 in 5 (18%) prison entrants had shared injecting drug equipment in the previous month, placing them at risk of communicable disease (Kopak and Hoffman 2014 as cited in AIHW 2015). 

How many people in contact with the criminal justice system receive treatment for alcohol and other drug use?

In 2022, opioid substitution treatment (OST) was currently being undertaken by 7.5% of prison entrants and 12% of prison dischargees. Around 1 in 6 (16%) prison entrants reported ever having been on an OST (AIHW 2023). 

Data from Alcohol and other drug treatment services in Australia show that diversion referrals from the criminal justice system into treatment have fallen from 19% (31,875 treatment episodes) in 2014–15 to 7.5% (18,176 episodes) in 2023–24 (AIHW 2025a, Table Trt.11). 

Young people in contact with the criminal justice system are more likely than the general population to receive drug treatment. From 1 July 2012 to 30 June 2016, people aged 10–17 under youth justice supervision were 30 times as likely as the Australian population of the same age to receive alcohol and other drug treatment from publicly funded treatment services (AIHW 2018). 

Where do I go for more information?

• Prisoners in Australia
• The health of people in Australia’s prisons