Alcohol and Other Drug Use in Regional and Remote Australia: Consumption, Harms and Access to Treatment 2016–17
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Alcohol and other drug use in regional and remote Australia: consumption, harms and access to treatment 2016–17 Alcohol and other drug use in regional and remote Australia: consumption, harms and access to treatment 2016–17 The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare is a major national agency whose purpose is to create authoritative and accessible information and statistics that inform decisions and improve the health and welfare of all Australians. © Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2019 This product, excluding the AIHW logo, Commonwealth Coat of Arms and any material owned by a third party or protected by a trademark, has been released under a Creative Commons BY 3.0 (CC BY 3.0) licence. Excluded material owned by third parties may include, for example, design and layout, images obtained under licence from third parties and signatures. We have made all reasonable efforts to identify and label material owned by third parties. You may distribute, remix and build upon this work. However, you must attribute the AIHW as the copyright holder of the work in compliance with our attribution policy available at <www.aihw.gov.au/copyright/>. The full terms and conditions of this licence are available at <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/au/>. ISBN 978-1-76054-496-6 (PDF) ISBN 978-1-76054-497-3 (Print) Suggested citation Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2019. Alcohol and other drug use in regional and remote Australia: consumption, harms and access to treatment, 2016–17. Cat. no. HSE 212. Canberra: AIHW. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Board Chair Mrs Louise Markus Chief Executive Officer Mr Barry Sandison Any enquiries about or comments on this publication should be directed to: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare GPO Box 570 Canberra ACT 2601 Tel: (02) 6244 1000 Email: [email protected] Published by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Please note that there is the potential for minor revisions of data in this report. Please check the online version at <www.aihw.gov.au> for any amendments. Contents Summary ....................................................................................................................................................... v 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 1 Regional and remote Australia ...................................................................................................................1 Population decline in regional and remote Australia ........................................................................2 Remoteness and harms .........................................................................................................................2 Quality and access to health care in regional and remote areas .....................................................3 2 Alcohol and other drug consumption across Australia ..................................................................... 5 Alcohol ...........................................................................................................................................................5 Consumption ...........................................................................................................................................5 Who consumes alcohol at risky levels? ................................................................................................6 Where is alcohol consumed at risky levels? ........................................................................................9 Other drug use ...........................................................................................................................................10 Consumption .........................................................................................................................................10 Who uses illicit drugs? ..........................................................................................................................11 Where are illicit drugs consumed? .....................................................................................................13 Wastewater analysis .............................................................................................................................13 3 Harms from alcohol and other drug use ........................................................................................... 14 Burden of disease ......................................................................................................................................14 Burden of alcohol use ..........................................................................................................................16 Burden of illicit drug use ......................................................................................................................17 Ambulance attendances ............................................................................................................................18 Drug-related hospitalisations ...................................................................................................................19 Drug-induced deaths .................................................................................................................................21 Usual residence.....................................................................................................................................24 Alcohol-induced deaths .............................................................................................................................24 4 Alcohol and other drug treatment services ...................................................................................... 26 Agencies ......................................................................................................................................................26 Clients ..........................................................................................................................................................27 Client profile ..........................................................................................................................................27 Principal drug of concern ..........................................................................................................................28 Source of referral ..................................................................................................................................29 Main treatment type ............................................................................................................................30 Alcohol and other drug use in regional and remote Australia: consumption, harms and access to treatment 2016–17 iii Treatment delivery setting ........................................................................................................................31 Treatment delivery setting by principal drug of concern ................................................................32 Treatment delivery setting by main treatment type ........................................................................32 Treatment duration ..............................................................................................................................33 Reason for ending treatment ..............................................................................................................34 Cessation by main treatment type .....................................................................................................35 Indigenous treatment services .................................................................................................................36 Substance-use services ........................................................................................................................36 Substance use issues .................................................................................................................................38 5 Access to treatment ............................................................................................................................. 39 Travel time and distance ...........................................................................................................................39 Client demographics ............................................................................................................................40 Principal drugs of concern ...................................................................................................................41 Treatment provided .............................................................................................................................43 6 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 46 Appendix A: Data sources ......................................................................................................................... 47 Appendix B: Methodology for measuring client travel time/distance to services ............................ 53 Acknowledgments ..................................................................................................................................... 55 Abbreviations ............................................................................................................................................