Illicit drugs

Introduction

Illicit drug use can be using drugs prohibited by law (such as cocaine) or using prescription or over-the-counter medications not in the way prescribed or intended (such as benzodiazepines). Illicit drug use can be a significant risk to health and can be linked to multiple adverse health outcomes including poisoning, substance dependence, suicide and self-inflicted injuries, chronic liver disease, and liver cancer.^1,2

Illicit drug use contributes significantly to morbidity and mortality for several health conditions, and to health care expenditure:

• In 2024, illicit drug use accounted for 3.1% of total disease burden (DALY), with opioid use the leading illicit drug use risk, contributing to 1.0% of the total burden, followed by amphetamine use (0.7%) and unsafe injecting practices (0.5%).
• Considered individually, the highest proportions of disease-specific burden attributable to illicit drug use were for non-alcohol drug use disorders (all of drug use disorders burden) followed by poisoning (73.2%) and acute hepatitis C (66.6%).³
• The cost of illicit drug addiction in Australia in 2021 was estimated to be $15.3 billion. This included $12.9 billion in tangible costs (including $5.8 for justice and law enforcement and $3.9 billion in lost productivity) and $2.4 billion in intangible costs.⁴

In Australia, illicit drug use is uncommon and use is infrequent for most types of illicit substance. The proportions of Queenslanders who engaged in recent illicit drug use reported here include those who did so only once or twice in the previous twelve months. The health risks associated with illicit drug use increase with more frequent use.²

Latest results

Adults

In 2022–2023, 18.7% of Queenslanders 18 years and older reported any illicit drug use at least once in the previous 12 months. The use of illicit drugs and illicit use of prescription pharmaceuticals are reported separately.

Use of illicit drugs

In 2022–2023, 16.2% of Queensland adults used an illicit drug at least once in previous 12 months.

Comparing Queensland adults across sociodemographic groups showed use of illicit drugs in the previous 12 months was (Figure 1):

• 40.4% more likely among adult males than adult females (19.0% and 13.6%, respectively)
• 8.1 times more likely among adults 18 to 24 years than adults 60 years or more.

In 2022–2023, the most commonly used prohibited drugs by adults in Queensland in the previous 12 months were cannabis (13.1%), cocaine (4.3%) and hallucinogens (1.9%).

Comparing Queensland adults across sociodemographic groups showed cannabis use in the previous 12 months was:

• 52.5% more likely among males than females (16.0% and 10.5%, respectively)
• 8.7 times more likely among adults 18 to 24 years than adults 60 years and older.

There were no differences by sex and small samples precluded comparisons by age group.⁵

Illicit use of prescription pharmaceuticals

In 2022–2023, 4.4% of adult Queenslanders had used prescription medications in a way not prescribed or intended in the previous 12 months, including:

• 2.2% of adults who misused analgesics and opioids
• 1.1% of adults who misused tranquillisers.

There were no differences by age or sex.⁵

Figure 1: Illicit drug use in Queensland, 2022–2023

Children and young people

In 2022–2023, 20.8% of Queensland high school students 12 to 17 years had used an illicit drug at least once in the previous 12 months. The most commonly used illicit drug among Queensland high school students in the previous 12 months was cannabis (14.7%). The use of other illicit drugs was less common among Queensland school students, however, 10.2% had used an illicit drug other than cannabis in the previous 12 months. There were no differences by age or sex among Queensland school students.⁶

Trends

From 2019 to 2022–2023, the percentage of Queensland adults 18 years and older who engaged in any illicit drug use in the previous 12 months was stable with a non-significant change from 16.8% to 18.7%. Similar non-significant changes were observed for:

• illicit drugs, which changed from 14.7% to 16.2%
• illicit use of prescription medicines, which changed from 4.1% to 4.4%.⁵

From 2017 to 2022–2023, the proportion of Queensland high school students 12 to 17 years who had used illicit drugs in the previous year was stable (21.1% in 2017 and 20.8% in 2022–2023). During the same period, the proportion of Queensland high school students who had used cannabis in the previous year decreased modestly from 19.7% in 2017 to 14.7% in 2022–2023.⁶

National comparisons

In 2022–2023, the proportion of Queenslanders engaged in any illicit drug use (18.7%) was similar to the national percentage (18.2%). Queensland ranked 6th among states and territories with Western Australia and Northern Territory having higher proportions of adults engaging in illicit drugs use. The proportion of Queenslanders using specific prohibited drugs, or misusing pharmaceuticals, steroids or analgesics was also similar to national proportions.⁵

In 2022–2023, the proportion of Queensland high school students 12 to 17 years who had used an illicit drug in the previous month was similar to the proportion for all Australian students 12 to 17 years (10.6% for Queensland compared to 7.5% for Australia).⁷

Additional information

Strategies and information

For strategies that focus on reducing illicit drug use and associated harms, see:

• The Department of Health and Aged Care National Drug Strategy
• Achieving balance: The Queensland Alcohol and Other Drugs Plan 2022-2027
• Better Care Together: A plan for Queensland’s state funded mental health alcohol and other drug services to 2027.

Section technical notes

Counts of people by modifiable risk factors are estimated by applying the indicator prevalence to the relevant estimated resident population (ERP). More information about ERP is available from the Australian Bureau of Statistics:

• National, state and territory population.
• Data on government and non-government students, staff and schools.

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:

• the National Drug Strategy Household Survey 2022–2023 (NDSHS) (See National Drug Strategy Household Survey 2022–2023 for further information)
• the Australian Secondary School Alcohol and Drugs Survey (ASSAD) (See Australian secondary school students alcohol and drug survey for further information).

Figures on this page are interactive

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