Shock findings reveal country Victoria’s level of ice use, Melbourne heroin consumption
Sewage testing has uncovered a number of alarming drug usage discoveries, with Melbourne recording shocking results for heroin usage. And country Victoria’s drug users are not faring any better.
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Country Victorians are taking more ice than their counterparts interstate, with 11.5 tonnes of the lethal drug consumed annually in Australia.
An Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission sewage testing report, released today, found $11.3 billion is now spent on illegal drugs a year.
Drug users in rural Victoria are also the highest consumers of morphine-based painkiller oxycodone, known colloquially as hillbilly heroin, when compared to every other regional area in Australia.
On top of the massive amount of methylamphetamine, 4.6 tonnes of cocaine, 2.2 tonnes of MDMA and more than 900kg of heroin were consumed across the country.
As well as the highest regional consumption of ice compared to other states, Victoria also had the highest average capital city consumption of heroin.
Victoria and NSW have the highest regional consumption of heroin.
Urine and faeces excreted by 13.3 million Australians was examined to get the drug use figures.
ACIC CEO Michael Phelan said: “Australians are spending a significant amount of money on illicit substances each year, generating profits for the sole benefit of organised crime groups.
“This is money that might otherwise have been spent on legitimate goods for themselves and their families. Organised criminals involved in the illicit drug trade prey on our communities to make a profit.”
Comparing data from August 2016 to August 2019, the population-weighted average consumption of nicotine, ice and cocaine increased while alcohol, oxycodone and fentanyl decreased.
The report estimates the amount of cash spent by Australians on illicit drugs has rocketed by $2 billion in a year, with last year’s sewage testing report stating $9.3 billion was spent on illegal substances.
The testing was carried out between April and August last year at 58 wastewater sites across the country, with 12 of those in Victoria.
It is estimated the testing covers 57 per cent of Australia’s population.
The report found consumption of ice and cocaine decreased in regional and metropolitan sites in Victoria while heroin use decreased in metropolitan sites but increased in regional sites.
Cocaine and heroin use was more common in metropolitan cities than in regional towns.
Alcohol and nicotine are the most consumed substances with methylamphetamine the most used illegal drug.
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