This 2016 National Drug Strategy Household Survey report shows that: • the decline in daily smoking slowed in 2016 but National Drug Strategy Household Survey 2016 improvements were seen among people living in the lowest socioeconomic area • certain groups disproportionately experience drug-related National Drug risks and recent use of illicit drugs was particularly high for people who identified as homosexual or bisexual Strategy Household • just under 4 in 10 Australians either smoked daily, drank alcohol in ways that put them at risk of harm or used an illicit drug in the previous 12 months. Survey 2016 Detailed findings : Detailed findings Pain-killers/opioids aihw.gov.au Pain-killers/opioids Stronger evidence, better decisions, improved health and welfare National Drug Strategy Household Survey 2016 Detailed findings Pain-killers/opioids Pain-killers/opioids 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 2017 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 (CCBY 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/>. This publication is part of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s Drug Statistics series. A complete list of the Institute’s publications is available from the Institute’s website <www.aihw.gov.au>. ISSN 2205-507X (PDF) ISSN 1442-7230 (Print) ISBN 978-1-76054-194-1 (PDF) ISBN 978-1-76054-195-8 (Print) DOI 10.25816/5ec5bc1bed176 Suggested citation Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2017. National Drug Strategy Household Survey 2016: detailed findings. Drug Statistics series no. 31. Cat. no. PHE 214. Canberra: AIHW. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Board Chair Director Mrs Louise Markus Mr Barry Sandison Any enquiries relating to copyright 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. ii National Drug Strategy Household Survey 2016: Detailed findings Contents Acknowledgments ........................................................................... vii Abbreviations ............................................................................... viii Symbols ..................................................................................... ix Summary ..................................................................................... x Revisions for physical abuse estimates—updated April 2020 ................................... xii 1 Introduction .............................................................................. 1 Background . 2 The National Drug Strategy. 3 About the 2016 survey . 3 Report structure . 4 2 Overview ................................................................................. 6 Use and attitudes among the general population . 7 Tobacco smoking . 7 Alcohol use . 8 Illicit use of drugs . 8 Polydrug use . .. 9 Population groups and trends . .. 11 Young people (aged under 30) . 11 Middle age and older people (40 or older) . .. 12 Social determinants and at-risk populations . 14 State and territory comparisons . 14 3 Tobacco. .20 Current tobacco use and trends . .. 21 Tobacco smoking by age and sex . 21 Age distribution of daily smokers . 23 Age first smoked . 24 Number of cigarettes smoked . .. 25 Tobacco products . .. 26 Manufactured and roll-your-own cigarettes . .26 Electronic cigarettes . 27 Exposure to second-hand smoke . 28 Illicit tobacco . .29 Unbranded illicit tobacco . 29 Illicit branded tobacco . 29 Changes to smoking behaviour . 30 Motivators for change to behaviour . 32 Smokers who do not want to quit . .. 32 National Drug Strategy Household Survey 2016: Detailed findings iii 4 Alcohol ..................................................................................33 Current alcohol use and trends ......................................................................35 Alcohol use by age and sex .........................................................................36 Alcohol risk .........................................................................................37 Current risky drinking and trends ................................................................37 Risky consumption by age and sex ..............................................................38 Very high alcohol consumption .....................................................................40 Age comparisons over time .....................................................................41 Age first tried alcohol ...............................................................................43 Alcohol use by population group ....................................................................44 Alcohol consumption—what, where and how ......................................................44 Drinking reduction ..................................................................................45 Health and harm ....................................................................................46 Perceptions of health effects ....................................................................47 Alcohol-related incidents and harm .............................................................47 5 Illicit use of drugs ........................................................................51 Illicit use of any drug ................................................................................53 Trends in lifetime use ............................................................................53 Trends in recent use .............................................................................55 Age and sex comparisons .......................................................................56 Age distribution of illicit drug users ..............................................................57 Average age people first used drugs .............................................................58 Average age of illicit drug users .................................................................58 Frequency of use ................................................................................59 Unable to stop or reduce use ....................................................................60 Use of selected illicit drugs ..........................................................................61 Cannabis ........................................................................................61 Cocaine .........................................................................................63 Ecstasy ..........................................................................................65 Meth/amphetamines ...........................................................................67 Emerging psychoactive substances ..............................................................71 Other illicit drugs ................................................................................73 Drug sources and locations of use ...................................................................73 Motivations/factors that influence decision to use illicit drugs .......................................74 Illicit drug related harm .............................................................................75 Victims of drug-related harm ....................................................................75 Harmful activities undertaken ...................................................................76 Suffered injuries or overdose ....................................................................76 Missed work due to illicit drug use ...............................................................76 iv National Drug Strategy Household Survey 2016: Detailed findings 6 Misuse of pharmaceuticals ................................................................77 Misuse of pharmaceuticals ..........................................................................78 Lifetime misuse .....................................................................................79 Recent misuse ......................................................................................80 Age and sex comparisons .......................................................................81 Frequency of use ................................................................................82 Unable to stop or reduce use ....................................................................82 Types of Pain-killers/opioids misused ............................................................82 7 State and