At a glance

In 2019:

  • 600,000 (14.8%) Queenslanders 14 years or older had used illicit drugs in the previous 12 months, and the majority (500,000) had used cannabis.
  • 200,000 (4.0%) Queenslanders 14 years or older used pharmaceuticals not as prescribed or intended in the previous 12 months.
  • 700,000 (16.9%) Queenslanders 14 years or older had engaged in either or both types of substance use.

Introduction

Illicit drug use can be the use of drugs prohibited by law (such as cannabis or cocaine) or the use of prescription or over-the-counter medications not in the way prescribed or intended. Illicit drug use is a significant risk to health and is linked to multiple adverse health outcomes including poisoning, drug use disorders, suicide and self-inflicted injuries, chronic liver disease, and liver cancer.

According to the most recent information available:

  • In 2018, illicit drug use accounted for 3.0% of total disease burden (DALY) nationally. Opioid use was the leading illicit drug, contributing to 0.9% of the total burden, followed by amphetamine use (0.7%) and unsafe injecting practices (0.5%).1
  • The total cost of illicit drug use to Queensland society in 2004–05 was $1.64 billion (most recent data available) based on national costs applied to Queensland’s population. This includes $1.4 billion in financial costs ($0.04 billion for healthcare, $0.4 billion on lost production and $0.89 billion on crime and road transport injury) and intangible costs of $0.26 billion (early deaths and wellbeing losses).2

Latest results

Adults

In 2019, 16.9% of Queenslanders 14 years and older reported illicit drug use in the previous 12 months.

Adults engaging in illicit drug use were more likely to be:

  • male
  • younger

The most commonly used illicit drug in Queensland in the previous 12 months was cannabis (12.8%), followed by cocaine (3.6%), MDMA (2.6%), hallucinogens (1.3%), and methamphetamine or amphetamine (1.2%). In 2019, 4.0% of Queenslanders 14 years and older reported misuse of pharmaceuticals, and 2.7% reported misuse of analgesics and opioids.3

Figure 1: Illicit drug use by Queenslanders 14 years or older, 2019

Figure 1a: Illicit drug use by Queenslanders 14 years or older, 2019 (use of illicit drugs)
The bar chart presents the Queensland prevalences of illicit drug use by type of illicit drug, and shows cannabis the most commonly used illicit drug by Queenslanders.
Figure 1b: Illicit drug use by Queenslanders 14 years or older, 2019 (illicit use of pharmaceuticals)
The bar chart presents the Queensland prevalences of illicit use of pharmaceuticals, by type of pharmaceutical, and shows pain medication the most common type of illicit pharmaceutical use.
Figure 1c: Illicit drug use by Queenslanders 14 years or older, 2019 (table) Ordered by type of illicit drug use
Type of illicit drug useProportion (%)
Any illicit (excl pharma)14.8
Cannabis12.8
Cocaine3.6
Ecstasy2.6
Hallucinogens1.3
Methamphet- amine and amphetamine1.2
Any pharmaceutical4.0
Pain medications2.7
Tranquillisers/sleeping pills1.5

Children and youth

In 2017, 8% of Australian high school students 12 to 17 years had used cannabis in the past month and 3% had used sedatives in the past week. Few students had ever used other illicit drugs.4

Trends

The percentage of Queenslanders 14 years and older who engaged in illicit drug use in the previous 12 months did not change significantly from 2001 to 2017, and this was true for both sexes and across age groups.

National comparisons

The prevalence of Queenslanders engaged in illicit drug use was similar to the national prevalence. The prevalence of Queenslanders using specific prohibited drugs, or misusing pharmaceuticals, steroids or analgesics, was also similar to national results.


Additional information

Data and statistics

Summary results from the Queensland preventive health survey (QPHS) for Hospital and Health Services and other regions can be found within this report and more detailed and historical results can be accessed at Preventive health surveys.

Strategies and information

For strategies to reduce illicit substance use and associated harms, see:

Section technical notes

Where presented, ratios were calculated using higher precision estimates than in text. Ratios calculated using estimates in text may differ.

Data for this section were sourced from:


References

  1. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. 2021. Australian Burden of Disease Study: Impact and causes of illness and death in Australia 2018Australian Burden of Disease Study series no. 23. Cat. no. BOD 29. Canberra: AIHW. doi: 10.25816/5PS1-J259.
  2. Collins D.J. & Lapsley H.M. 2008. The costs of tobacco, alcohol and illicit drug abuse to Australian society in 2004-05.
  3. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. 2020. National drug strategy household survey 2019. drug statistics series no. 32. PHE 270 . Canberra: AIHW.
  4. Guerin N. & White V. 2020. ASSAD 2017 Statistics & trends: Australian secondary students’ use of tobacco, alcohol, over-the-counter drugs, and illicit substances. Melbourne: Cancer Council Victoria.

Last updated: March 2023