Dealers supply 31% of meth/amphetamine users
Highlighting the social connection with illegal drugs, majority of Australians who used meth/amphetamine in previous 12 months to 2013 usually obtained it from a friend. Dealers were responsible for supplying to 31% of users.
A relative or partner was the source for 5% of meth/amphetamine users in the previous 12 months, and prescription, doctor shopping or forged script was 0.5%
Source: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW). 2013 National Drug Strategy Household Survey
Australians living in remote areas are the most likely users of ice.
Australians living in outer regional/remote/very remote locations are the most likely to have used ice in the previous 12 months (1.4%).
Australians living in inner regional locations are the least likely to have used crystal methamphetamine (ice) in the previous 12 months (0.6%).
Around 1.1% of residents in major cities are likely to have used ice in the previous 12 months.
Research from the 2013 National Drug Strategy Household Survey on ice use by geographic location showed:
- 55% lived in outer regional/remote/very remote locations,
- 52% lived in a major city
- 39% lived in inner regional areas
Source: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW). 2013 National Drug Strategy Household Survey (NCETA secondary analysis, 2015)
Western Australians use twice as much ice
A worrying sign is that Western Australians (3%) were more than twice as likely to have used ice in the previous 12 months compared with every other State and Territory.
South Australians (1.4%) and the Northern Territorians (1.2%) were the next highest users of ice in the previous 12 months. Queensland recorded 1.0%, Victoria 0.8%, NSW 0.6%, and Tasmania 0.6%.
Sources: Source: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW). 2013 National Drug Strategy Household Survey (NCETA secondary analysis, 2015).
Men are 60% more likely than women to use ice.
Australian men are more likely than women to have used crystal methamphetamine (ice) in the previous 12 months, with 1.3% of men using ice compared to 0.8% of women.
Source: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW). 2013 National Drug Strategy Household Survey (NCETA secondary analysis, 2015).
People aged 18-29 are the biggest ice users.
A survey of the proportion of Australians who used ice in the previous 12 months found that the 18-24 year age group and the 25-29 year age group were the biggest users by far, compared with the 30-39 and 40+ age groups. (Sample size too small for younger users.)
Sources: Source: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW). 2013 National Drug Strategy Household Survey (NCETA secondary analysis, 2015)
3 times as many unemployed Australians use ice.
Unemployed Australians are more likely to have used crystal methamphetamine (ice) in the previous 12 months than employed Australians. Around 3.4% of Australians who use meth are unemployed, 1.1% are employed and 0.6% are not in the labour force.
Source: AIHW National Drug Strategy Household Survey, 2013
26,269 Australians were arrested for amphetamine use in 2013-14.
A report by the Australian Crime Commission revealed that 26,269 Australian in 2013-14 were arrested for amphetamine-related crimes. This was an 18% increase from 2012-13 when there was 22,189 arrests. A total of 76% of these arrests were consumers.
In Western Australia there were 3,756 arrests related to amphetamine-related drug use during 2013-14, an increase of 31% over the previous 12 months.
Sources: Australian Crime Commission, Illicit Drug Data Report 2013–14, NADK and
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2.3% of the total workforce uses meth.
Higher meth use in construction, hospitality and mining industries.
In the previous 12 months to 2013, 2.3% of the total workforce had used meth/ amphetamine. Workplaces that had a high usage rate were wholesale (5.3%), construction (5.2%), hospitality (3.2%), manufacturing (3.2%), mining (3.2%), and administrative services (2.8%).
Sources: NADK and NDSHS
1.4% of Australians have used ice at least once.
1.1% of Australians used ice in the previous 12 months.
1.1% of Australians have mainly used crystal methamphetamine (ice) in the past 12 months and 1.4% have used ice at least once in their lifetime.
Source: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW). 2013 National Drug Strategy Household Survey (NCETA secondary analysis, 2015).
Most ice sold in Australia is imported from Asia.
Most crystalline methamphetamine sold in Australia is imported from East and South East Asia.
Source: NADK.
Ice usage: smoking 78%, injection 9%, swallowing 7%, snorting 5%.
Among Australian meth/amphetamine users who report that crystal methamphetamine (ice) is the main form they use, the majority (78%) typically smoke it.