Estimating the prevalence of illicit drug use is difficult, but reliable estimates are required to understand community needs and inform associated policy and practice.1 Degenhardt and colleagues2 published recent estimates of the prevalence of regular (greater than or equal to monthly use in the past 6 months) and dependent (greater than three on the Severity of Dependence Scale) methamphetamine use in Australia, where the headline figures were an estimated 268 000 and 160 000 regular and dependent methamphetamine users respectively in the 2013–14 financial year.
The full article is accessible to AMA members and paid subscribers. Login to read more or purchase a subscription now.
Please note: institutional and Research4Life access to the MJA is now provided through Wiley Online Library.
- 1. Kraus L, Augustin R, Frischer M, et al. Estimating prevalence of problem drug use at national level in countries of the European Union and Norway. Addiction 2003; 98: 471-485.
- 2. Degenhardt L, Larney S, Chan G, et al. Estimating the number of regular and dependent methamphetamine users in Australia, 2002–2014. Med J Aust 2016; 204: 153. <MJA full text>
- 3. McKetin R, McLaren J, Kelly E, et al. Estimating the number of regular and dependent methamphetamine users in Australia. Technical Report No. 230. Sydney: National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre; 2005.
- 4. Scott N, Caulkins JP, Ritter A, et al. High-frequency drug purity and price series as tools for explaining drug trends and harms in Victoria, Australia. Addiction 2015; 110: 120-128.
- 5. Quinn B, Stoove M, Papanastasiou C, Dietze P. Methamphetamine use in Melbourne, Australia: baseline characteristics of a prospective methamphetamine-using cohort and correlates of methamphetamine dependence. J Substance Use 2013; 18: 349-362.
We thank the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services for providing Victorian treatment data from the Alcohol and Drug Information System. We also thank Rebecca Jenkinson, Nick Scott, Jenny Chalmers and John Fitzgerald for their input as authors of previous versions of this submission.
Dietze has received funding from Gilead Sciences, Inc. and Reckitt Benckiser for work unrelated to this study, and he is the recipient of a National Health and Medical Research Council Senior Research Fellowship. Quinn is the recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship. The Burnet Institute has received funding through the Victorian Government Operational Infrastructure Scheme. These funders were not involved in the work.