Cocaine use is on the rise while ice and alcohol consumption have dropped the second report of the National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program has found.

July 27, 2017

Ice remains Australia’s most popular illegal drug although its use has dropped along with alcohol, the latest study of nation’s wastewater has found.

However ice, also called methylamphetamine, continued to be the illicit substance posing the biggest risk to the nation, Justice Minister Michael Keenan said on Thursday.

“Australia has probably the most significant ice problem in the world and Western Australia was the worst of all the Australian states,” Mr Keenan said in Perth.

“This is a diabolical drug.”

Mr Keenan said Australian’s willingness to pay high prices for illicit drugs had made the nation an attractive market for organised crime.

The average street price of methylamphetamine in China is just $100.00 per gram, whereas in Australia it is $620.00, based on United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime figures.

This has led to a significant increase in the amount of ice being smuggled into Australia and a purer form hitting the streets.

In response to the problem, Mr Keenan said Australian Federal Police had begun dealing with the drug at its source and were now working with Chinese authorities.

He said the approach, “is a great example of how international co-operation is stopping drugs from hitting the streets here in Australia,” with 13 tonnes of methylamphetamine already being stopped by the joint force in the past 18 months.

A network of anti-gangs squads across Australia are also working to stop illegal drugs in the community but ice remains the main focus due to the harm it causes to users, families and frontline staff working in hospitals and the emergency services.

The study of wastewater from 37 treatment plants or 51 per cent of the Australian population between October 2016 to February 2017 also found the consumption of pain killers oxycodone and fentanyl had dropped but their use remained significant, particularly in regional Australia.

Of the 13 drugs tested for, alcohol and tobacco remained the most used in all states and territories with cocaine use in Australia’s capital cities double that of the country sites tested.

Researchers also found the use of cocaine dramatically increased in the ACT in December 2016 and was on the rise.

Western Australia had the highest meth use in the nation followed by South Australia.

Australians are the world’s second biggest users of methylamphetamine, behind Slovakia, according to the wastewater monitoring here and in Europe.