Pot tops liquor in help call

MORE Queenslanders are now seeking help for cannabis abuse than for alcohol abuse.

The latest Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) data, released today, will show cannabis has overtaken booze as the main substance misused by people presenting for treatment.

Marijuana now accounts for 39 per cent of treatment episodes for “own drug use” in 2015-16.

Alcohol has been the primary drug Queenslanders sought help for since 2009-10 and remains the most common drug for which people get treatment in all other states.

But the AIHW report shows the gap between the number of treatment episodes provided for booze compared to dope shrunk to just two per cent in Queensland in 2014-15, when more treatments for cannabis as the “principal drug of con- cern” were provided for the first time.

In 2015-16 alcohol accounted for fewer than 27 per cent of closed treatment episodes in the Sunshine State, followed by amphetamines (17 per cent).

Queensland Alcohol and Drug Research and Education Centre director Jake Najman said an increase in the purity of drugs could behind the change, with the popularity of hydroponic pot on the rise.

“If the manufacturers are switching to plants with higher concentrations (of active ingredients) then more will seek help because more people will be affected adversely,” he said.

The AIHW data shows between 2006-07 and 2015-16 the number of finalised drug treatments for all drugs in Queensland grew by 75 per cent.

Nationally, alcohol treatment episodes fell by six per cent between 2011-12 and 2015-16, as cannabis treatment grew 40 per cent.