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By LA Thoms Medinat Australia
2 years ago
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Whilst it’s not all bad, the news that Australia is leading the worldwide ice and methamphetamine epidemic is certainly not a celebratory milestone. The national wastewater program to monitor drug use has been in effect since 2016. It is a coordinated effort and intelligence used to understand how illicit and licit drugs can be abused with a strong focus on methamphetamines. In 2019 ACIC (The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission) received a further 4.8 million to fund the program for an additional four years.
Water analysis is commonly used worldwide to research and understand drug use amongst the general populace. In Australia the trends indicate that meth or ice is popular, but cannabis and heroin is declining. The report lists Perth as having the highest meth use of capital cities and NSW the highest in regional areas.
The Australian testing regime is carried out in 56 regional and metropolitan sites across Australia. The report interestingly assesses the trends of drug consumption by comparing different states and territories over a specific timeframe. Australia had the highest methamphetamine consumption per capita when compared with 24 other countries.
The research highlighted, metropolitan areas exceeded regional areas in consuming the illicit drug meth known on the streets as ice, crystal shard or glass, for the first time since 2017. With the drug historically being a major health and public crisis in regional areas for some time. Interestingly the research also showed that covid hampered and not increased drug use, with illicit drug use lower than pre-covid times. Difficulty with supply, deterred drug consumption overall. However organised crime has ramped up their efforts to supply these street drugs since covid restrictions have eased as supply has improved and demand increased. The illegal drug market faces significant challenges as law enforcement agencies work tirelessly to stop the supply and importation of illicit drugs to Australia.
Mr Phelan ACIC chief executive says, "Organised crime groups have redoubled their efforts to supply the major illicit drug markets as COVID-19 restrictions eased, generating significant illicit revenue, but they continue to face challenges, not least from law enforcement agencies.”
The report also indicated that cannabis and heroin use dropped off in both capital and regional areas from August to December 2021 and that fentanyl and oxycontin fluctuated but remained low compared to other illicit drugs overall.
Australia ranked the highest of combined use of methamphetamine, cocaine and MDMA but fifth in the consumption of MDMA alone. The Sewage Core Group (SCORE) gathered results from 86 cities and 27 countries in April 2021 but did not include most Asian nations and the Americas.
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