Spike in ketamine abuse

QUEENSLAND has the highest use of the drug ketamine in regional areas in the country, according to the latest National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program.

The often-abused prescription drug is more widely used in capital cities than the country, but one unnamed regional city in Queensland has shown a spike in use with the highest average per capita, according to the report, by the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC).

Methylamphetamine remains the most popular drug in Brisbane as well as regional areas.

The report also shows that Melbourne is the ecstasy capital city of Australia, Sydney is the cocaine capital and Adelaide is the meth capital.

Darwin had the highest use of nicotine in the country and consumed the most cannabis, while Tasmanians took the most fentanyl.

The ACIC report which is researched with data collected by the Universities of Queensland and South Australia showed overall in Queensland drug use has risen 3 per cent in the past year, while most other states had experienced sharp falls, particularly in cocaine.

The ACIC believes the drop in cocaine use is because of the huge drug busts that have taken place around the country last year, not because of any decrease in demand.

Queensland Police drug raids carried out a number of covert drug operations last year. In August, police busted a large trafficking operation selling cocaine and methylamphetamine in the Redlands and Greater Brisbane areas.

The 12-month sting resulted in nine people charged with 52 offences.

But the biggest drug bust in Australian history was pulled off by WA Police late last year after a joint undercover operation with the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) led to the seizure of 2.4 tonnes of cocaine worth about $1 billion dollars. That cocaine was likely headed for distribution across the country.

In 2021, more than 25 tonnes of drugs with an estimated street value of $5bn were seized and burned nationally.

Australians spent about $10bn on drugs in 2022 buying more than 14 tonnes of just four drugs – methylamphetamine, cocaine, MDMA (ecstasy), and heroin. It was a slight decrease on the previous year according to the report.

Around the country, meth remains the most consumed drug by a large margin. But heroin use also rose.

The use of MDMA, MDA, oxycodone, fentanyl, cannabis and ketamine increased in capital cities. The acting ACIC CEU Matt Rippon said it was a concerning amount in both economic cost and the actual expenditure.

He said the cost to the community was enormous through associated incidents including drug-fuelled “violence, road trauma, property crime, illness, injury and deaths”.

The report is the 18th produced by the ACIC monitoring 58 wastewater plants around the country covering about 57 per cent of the population.

The report compiled results from 9075 samples for 12 drugs including nicotine, alcohol, heroin, meth, amphetamine, cocaine, MDMA and MDA, prescription drugs with abuse potential oxycodone, fentanyl, as well as cannabis and ketamine.

A snapshot of drug use across the nation between April and August 2022 showed a record low in consumption of cocaine and a huge drop of 41 per cent in MDMA.

The drop in MDMA is attributed to a shift by organised crime groups toward producing more meth.

Cannabis use in regional areas across the country continues to be higher than capital cities.

For free advice on drug and alcohol treatment services call the National Alcohol and Other Drug Hotline on 1800 250 015.